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For scholars of ancient Indian religions, the wandering mendicants who left home and family for a celibate life and the search for liberation represent an enigma. The Vedic religion, centered on the married household, had no place for such a figure. Much has been written about the Indian ascetic but hardly any scholarly attention has been paid to the married householder with wife and children, generally referred to in Sanskrit as g?hastha: "the stay-at-home." The institution of the householder is viewed implicitly as posing little historical problems with regard to its origin or meaning. This volume problematizes the figure of the householder within ancient Indian culture and religion. It shows that the term g?hastha is a neologism and is understandable only in its opposition to the ascetic who goes away from home (pravrajita). Through a thorough and comprehensive analysis of a wide range of inscriptions and texts, ranging from the Vedas, Dharmasastras, Epics, and belle lettres to Buddhist and Jain texts and texts on governance and erotics, this volume analyses the meanings, functions, and roles of the householder from the earliest times unti about the fifth century CE. The central finding of these studies is that the householder bearing the name g?hastha is not simply a married man with a family but someone dedicated to the same or similar goals as an ascetic while remaining at home and performing the economic and ritual duties incumbent on him. The g?hastha is thus not a generic householder, for whom there are many other Sanskrit terms, but a religiously charged concept that is intended as a full-fledged and even superior alternative to the concept of a religious renouncer||About the Author: Patrick Olivelle is Professor Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin. He was President of the American Oriental Society. The author of over 30 books and 50 articles, his books have won awards from American Academy of Religion and Association of Asian Studies. His major publications include: Yajnavalkya: A Treatise on Dharma; Hindu Law: A New History of Dharmasastra; Reader on Dharma: Classical Indian Law; King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India; Visnu's Code of Law; The Life of the Buddha; Manu's Code of Law; Upanisads; and Asrama System. Contributors - Adam Bowles, Senior Lecturer in Asian Religions at the University of Queensland, Australia Joel Brereton, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Texas at Austin Whitney Cox, Associate Professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago David Brick, Assistant Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Michigan Csaba Dezso, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Indian Studies, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary Oliver Freiberger, Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin Stephanie W. Jamison, Professor of Asian Languages and Culture and of Indo-European Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles Timothy Lubin, Professor of Religion at Washington and Lee University Claire Maes, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin Mark McClish, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Northwestern University Aaron Sherraden, Doctoral Student at the University of Texas at Austin