Rc-marriage of Brahman and Rajput widows is never permitted ; and though re-marriage is lawful by tho Muhammadan law, the followers in India of that religion have largely adopted the Hindu practice. In some of the other Hindu castes a woman may re-marry more than once.
Much attention is at the present time directed towards this portion of the Hindu code. An influential sect of theists, the Brahmo Somlij, followers of Ram Mohun Roy, use a revised ritual, in which, while idolatrous invocations of the Vedic and Puranic deities are suppressed, and the One without a Second is entreated to sanctify the union, the ceremonies which are not idolatrous, and which have been consecrated by the use of ages, are preserved with a view to the relief of the members of the Brahmo Somaj. Marriages between natives of India not professing Christianity must be solemnized in the presence of a registrar; and of at least three credible witnesses, in whose hearing each of the parties makes the following declaration I, A. B., am a native of British India, I do not profess the Christian religion, and I object to be married in accordance with the rites of the Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Parsee, or Jewish religion.' l'he bride and bride groom are then to repeat words to the following effect I, A. B., declare, in the presence of the Almighty God, that I take thee, C.D., to be 'my lawful wedded wife (or husband).' The husband must have completed the age of 18, and the wife must not be under 14. If she be under 14, the consent of her father or guardian is necessary.
The Hindu law does not recognise the second marriage of widows, though seven forms of cohabitation are observed with certain ceremonial rites. The mere act of being betrothed disqualifies from a second marriage. The affianced becomes a widow, though a komari or maid. Latterly, however, re-marriage of females left widows before attaining a really marriageable age, is being less objected to amongst respectable Hindus. Nothing can be crueller or more unwise than to condemn girls to a life of celibacy. The seven forms of cohabitation are,—when the first marriage has not been consummated; when a girl has been unchaste, and is married to another than the gallant ; when a widow is allotted to a kinsman to raise issue for her deceased husband. In these three the woman is Puniir-blffi, she who is wedded again. In the other four she is termed Swaireni, independent, uncontrolled.
Curao is the Urdu or Hindi term given among the Jat, Gujar, Ahir, and other races and tribes in North - Western Hindustan, to concubinage generally, but more especially to marriages of widows with the brother of a deceased husband.
The practice is known to the eastward by the name of Urhuri, in the Dekhan as But'hee, and in other provinces by the name of Dhureecha. It is followed among these classes, 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 tho east. The Jews followed this custom, and in Egypt it was permitted for a child less widow to cohabit with a brother of the deceased husband.. When the laws in Maim were collected, Curao 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 considera tion 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 the due authority given to her, is called the lawful son of the wife (chap. ix. ver. 176). When the two younger sons of king Santanu Vichitru Virya died childless, the Mahabharata mentions that Viehitru Virya's widow first asked Bhishma, saying, Take the raja's widows, I pray you, and raise up sons that shall be to him as his own sons ; ' and being refused, in consequence of his vow, How can I do this thing ? have I not vowed a vow that I would never become the father of children by any woman? sho sent for her own kinsman, Vyasa, to whom was born the blind Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura. This practice is identical with that of the Jews, as described in Ruth. There is perhaps no circum stance which so strongly shows the northern descent .of the deified heroes as this marriage. Amongst the Jat, Gujur, and Ahir, children born in Curao are considered legitimate, and are entitled to inheritance accordingly. Children begotten by the woman previous to Curao, except in the ease of fraternal Curao, are known by the name of Kudhelura, and do not inherit the property of the father-in-law.