Marriage and the Householder
This chapter examines the figure of the householder (gṛhastha), the lynchpin of the dharma system, occupying the second stage of the codified āśrama system. It first considers the word gṛhastha and notes that it has made its way into the dharma literature from Middle Indo-Aryan and heterodox religious circles. This terminological discontinuity suggests that there is also conceptual discontinuity between the Vedic married head of household and the householder depicted in the dharma texts. Since the householder must be married, the chapter then treats the institution of marriage: who and when to marry and the types of marriage as found in the dharma texts, as well as the marriage ceremony itself. It then turns to the legal and ritual obligations of the married couple, including the dissolution of the marriage by death or other means.