The second stage, reached in his late teens, was the onset of his maturity. He married the woman his parents had chosen for him and became a householder.

In many Hindu texts, the householder's life is considered the greatest of the four stages of life. Hinduism does not hold up monasticism as a common ideal for all; rather, the struggles and challenges of household management, family life, and social obligations are expected to contribute to the strengthening of a man's will for the life of retirement and the spiritual life to follow.

The householder stage is often characterized as the basis and support for the other three. In fact, the householder stage affords a man an opportunity to realize the first three ends of man — pleasure (kama), material gain (artha), and virtue (dharma). In order to do this, the scriptures say, “One should give his daughter in marriage to a young man endowed with intelligence. One should marry a girl who possesses the characteristics of intelligence, beauty, good character, and freedom from disease.”

The status of women is a curious matter here. One view says they should be shown the utmost respect, yet another says they deserve no freedom. In fact, the ethics stressed that a woman's father protects her in childhood, her husband protects her in youth, and her sons protect her in old age — so a woman does not need independence according to the stations of life.

The duty to provide has been called the highest duty of all, and this falls on husbands, who must strive to protect their wives. In protecting his wife scrupulously, he is also protecting his own offspring, character, family, and self. A husband should engage his wife in the collection and expenditures of his wealth, in cleanliness, in duty, in cooking food for the family, and in looking after the necessities of the household.