KURAO. The practice, which is also known to the eastward by the name of Uorhuree, in the Dekhan by Butt'hhee, and in other provinces by the name of Dhureecha, is followed among the Jat races, but is not very openly confessed even among them, as some degree of discredit is sup posed to attach to it. It is only younger brothers who form these connections, elder brothers being prohibited from marrying their younger brothers' widows ; but among the Jat of Dehli even this is not prohibited. Ranjit Singh went some steps further. He took by Kurao a lady betrothed to his father, Malta Singh ; he also took Dya Koon wur and Rutuu Koonwur, the widows of Sahel Singh, the chief of Gujerat, his own uncle-in-law.
It is optional with the Jat widow to take either the eldest (Jeth) or the youngest, who is generally preferred and deemed most suitable. Should she determine to relinquish worldly ideas, and to reside chaste in her father-in-law's house, she may adopt this course, but such instances are very rare, particularly in the case of young females, and are not to be looked for in a society and amongst tribes notorious for the laxity of their morals and for the degeneracy of their conceptions.
In default of surviving brothers, and in accord ance with acknowledged usage, the widow is at the disposal of her father-in-law's family. From the moment she has quitted the paternal roof, she is considered to have been assigned as the property of another, and ceases to have a free will.
The Jews followed this custom, and in Egypt it was permitted for a childless widow to cohabit with a brother of the deceased husband. When the laws of Menu were enacted, Kurao appears to have been a recognised institution. But, as is not unusual with the Institutes, 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. Ho 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 (ix. 176).—Elliot ; History of thc Panjab.