CURAO, also written Karao, seemingly from Karaua, to cause to do, to compel, is the term given among;the Jat, Gujar, Ahir, and other non Aryan races, in N.W. Hindustan, to concubinage generally, but more especially to marriages of widows with the brother of a deceased husband. The practice, which is also known to the eastward by the name of Oorhuree, in the Dekhan of But'hee, and in other provinces by the name of Dhureecha, is followed among these races, but is not very openly confessed even among them, as some degree of discredit is supposed to attach to it. It is only younger brothers who form these con nections, elder brothers being prohibited from marrying their younger brothers' widows, but among the Jat of Dehli even this is not prohibited. The practice has been common among several nations of the East. The Jews followed this custom ; in Egypt it was admitted for a child less widow to cohabit with a brother of the deceased husband; and when the laws of Menu were enacted, Cum appears to have been a recognised institution. But, as is not unusual with the institutes, of Menu, there is much .contradiction between the enactments relating to it. From a consideration of all the passages on the subject, it appears that failure of issue was the point on which the legality turned. He who was begotten according to law on the wife of a man deceased, or impotent, or disordered, after due authority given to her, is called the lawful son of the wife (ch. ix. 176). From the fact of Draupadi
marrying the five Pandu brothers, we learn that polyandry must have prevailed amongst the races of that period ; and if polyandry, the practice of Curao was no doubt not uncommon ; indeed, Vyasa, the compiler of the Mahabharata, was himself appointed to raise up offspring to his deceased brother. There is perhaps no circum stance which so strongly shows the northern descent of the deified heroes as this marriage. Herodotns tells us that the practice prevailed among the nomadic Scythians, as it does at present among the Bhotia. The practice is adopted also by the Nair race of Malabar, between whom and the people of the Himalaya, Wilson traces the obscure vestiges of a connection. Amongst the Jat, Gujar, and Ahir, children born Curao are considered legitimate, a.nd are entitled to inheritance accordingly. Children begotten by the woman previous to Curao, except in the case of fraternal Curao, are known by the name of Kudhelura, and do not inherit the property of the father-in-law.—Elliot, Sup. Gloss., quoting _Recherches Phil. sur les Egyptiens et les Chizzois ; Selections from the illahabharata, pp. 8 and 66.