The extended and patriarchal family is the basic unit of Aryan society.

A cluster of related families constitutes a village, while several villages form a tribal unit.

Child marriage, as practiced in later eras, is uncommon, but the partners' involvement in the selection of a mate and dowry and bride- price are customary.

The birth of a son is welcome because he can later tend the herds, bring honor in battle, offer sacrifices to the gods, and inherit property and pass on the family name.

Monogamy is widely accepted although polygamy is not unknown, and even polyandry is mentioned in later writings.

Ritual suicide of widows is expected at a husband's death, and this might have been the beginning of the practice known as sati in later centuries, when the widow actually burns herself on her husband's funeral pyre.