RUN 



R U N 



of fir John Chefshyre, prime ferjeant to queen Anne and 

 king George I. who died in 1738, and alfo of three ba- 

 ronets of the Brooke family. Thofe of fir Richard Brooke, 

 who deceafed in 1781, and the late fir Richard, who died 

 in 1795, were executed in marble by John Baco::, fculptor. 

 Since the formation of the duke of Bridge-water's c 

 which joins the Merfey clofe to Runcorn, this place has 

 greatly increafed in population and wealth, and has been im- 

 proved by the ereftion of many handfome buildings. For 

 fome years pad it has likewife been a falhionable retort tor 

 change of air and falt-water bathing. 



The parifh of Runcorn is extenfive, and comprifes nine- 

 teen townfhips. According to the population returns of 

 181 1, the parifh contained 1171 houfes, and 6317 inha- 

 bitants, of whom 2060 refided in the townfhip of Runcorn. 

 Here are many fine quarries of fivc-llone, large quantities of 

 which are fent by water-carriage to Chefter, Liverpool, 

 Manchefter, and various other places. Lyfons's Magna 

 Britannia, vol. ii. Chelhire, 4to. Lond. 1810. Beauties of 

 England, &c. vol. ii. 



RUNDAL, a river of Norway, which runs into the fea, 

 near Bergen. 



RUNDENDORF, a town of Bavaria, in the bifhopric 

 of Bamberg ; 7 miles N.N.W. of Bamberg. 



RUNDLES, or Roundles, in Heraldry, the fame as 

 balls or pellets. 



RUNDLET, Ron-let, or Roundkt, a fmall vefiel, con- 

 taining an uncertain quantity of any liquor, from three to 

 twenty gallons. 



RUNDULLA, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 Baglana ; 10 miles E. of Naderbar. 



RUNEHOLM. See Ruun. 



RUNE K A, in Hindoo Mythology, is fabled as the mortal 

 mother of Parafu Rama, an incarnation of Vifhnu. Her 

 hufband was Jamadagni, one of the feven Rifhis, or patri- 

 archal fages. Under thefe feveral names or words explana- 

 tions will be refpeftively found. On the death of Jama- 

 dagni, as related in that article, Runeka declared her inten- 

 tion of becoming Sati, that is pure, by the aft of felf-im- 

 molation on her hufband's funeral pile. (See Sati.) The 

 avaricious Raja, who had caufed her hufband's death, be- 

 came thus charged with this double murder, and the vindic- 

 tive Sati imprecated curfes on him and his tribe, enjoining 

 their valorous fon Rama to avenge the death of his parents 

 by the condign punifhment of the impious Raja and the mi- 

 litary tribe of Kfhetria, (fee Sects of Hindoos,) whofe 

 meafure of iniquity and oppreffion was completed by this 

 final atrocity. 



The prayers or imprecations of a Sati are never inef- 

 ficiently uttered ; the great gods themfclves cannot lillen to 

 them unmoved. Vifhnu accordingly infpircd Rama with a 

 portion of his divinity, and fent him forth to combat the 

 Raja ; who, after twenty battles, was (lain, the military race 

 of Kfhetria annihilated, and his ufurped kingdoms relieved 

 from oppreffion. 



On the occafion of this fclf-immolation of Runeka, it is 

 related, that to ftrengthen the potency of her malcdiftions 

 on the head of the murderous Raja, fhe, in addition to her 

 own felf-facrifice, performed alfo the ceremony of Naramedha, 

 or the facrifice of a man, thereby rendering her felicitations 

 to the avenging deities abfolutely irrefiftible. And fo lull- 

 ing is faid to be the effect, of the wrath felt and tranfmittcd 

 by the vimliftive Sati, and its attendant facrifice and incanta- 

 tions, (fee Mantra and Naramedha,) that nothing can 

 avert its feverity, continued even to the prefent day, but a 

 counteracting Naramcdha ; and that with the pcrmifiion of 

 Parafu Rama (who is conlidered as Hill living in the Kokr.11 

 or Concan) ; a man is accordingly facrificed to appeafe the 



wrath of Runeka Devi, in every generation, by the tribe 

 called Karhara, a military feet, many of whom are fettled 

 in the Kokan, Guzerat, and other weflern provinces of 

 India. 



Mr. Wilford, difcufiing fome of thefe topics in the third 

 volume of the Afiatic Refearches, obferves, that although 

 human viftims, Naramedha, allowed by ancient authorities, 

 are now prohibited under pain of the fevereft torments in the 

 next world, the prohibition is faid to be difregarded by the 

 Pamaras, or Pariar races, in different parts of India. But 

 he cannot imagine that any Brahman would now officiate at 

 fo horrid a ceremony, denounced as it is in the Brahma and 

 Adit\ a Puranas, and in the Sri Bhagavat itfelf. 



Notwithflanding, however, the general incredibility of 

 the faft, refearches have fince brought to light that a tribe 

 of Brahmans, called, from officiating for that tribe, Karhara 

 Brahmans, do flill aftually countenance and praftife the 

 horrible ceremony in queftion. They bear, at all events, 

 the odium of it, and are confequently fhunned by their holy 

 brethren of more humane praftices and tribes. They are 

 themfelves very referved on the fubjeft ; and deny the pre- 

 fent praftice, but admit of its former exiftence. On this 

 curious point many particulars, for which we have not room, 

 are collected in Moor's Treatife on Hindoo Infanticide ; to 

 which, p. 195, we refer thofe defirous of farther informa- 

 tion. Inftances of recent facrifices, and the names of the 

 fuppofed viftims, are there given. 



The name of this maleficent lady is fometimes written 

 Renuci, and Renuka. In the eleventh volume of the Afia- 

 tic Refearches the following paflage occurs, defcriptive of 

 her perfon and family. " In the white Ifland," which in 

 palling we will obferve Mr. Wilford endeavours to prove to 

 be Albion, " lived Jamadagni, a great Muni (fee Muni), 

 who can at his will deftroy the world, who bellows rewards 

 and inflifts punifhmeuts, knows the paft and the future, and 

 of whom the gods Hand in awe. His wife was Renuka; in 

 her manners and gait fhe is like Reti, the mother of Kama. 

 (See thofe articles.) The whole world gazed at her with 

 aflonifhment : her eyes are more beautiful than thofe of the 

 antelope of the foreit ; her face is like the moon ; {he is a 

 goddefs, incapable of decay, immediately born of the fu- 

 preme being. She is Ifwari, the iovcreign queen (fee 

 IbWARA) ; from her was born Rama, ever victorious," 

 &c. 



RUNGA, in Geography, a town of Hindooltan, in the 

 circar of Cicacole ; 25 miles S.W. of Cicacole. 



RUNGIS, a town of France j 6 miles S. of Paris. 



RUNGPOUR, a circar of Hindooltan, bounded on the 

 N. by Coos Beyhar, on the E. by the Burhampooter, on 

 the S. by Goragot, and on the W. by Dinagepour and Sur- 

 roopour. The capital is Rungpour. 



RuNorouR, a town of Bengal ; 72 miles N.E. of Maul- 

 dah. N. lat. 24°43'. E. long. 8y° 23'. 



RUNGS, in a Ship, the fame with the floor or ground- 

 timber", being the timbers which conflitute her floor, and 

 are bolted to the keel, whofe ends are called rung-heads ; 

 and more properly floor-heads. 



R.VXG-Heads are made a little bending to dircft the 

 fweep or mold of the futtocks, and naval timbers ; for here 

 the lines, which make the compals and bearing of a (hip, 

 do begin. 



RUNIC, a term applied to the language and letter* 

 of the ancient Goths, Danes, and other northern nations. 



The word rune, according to Mallet, is derived from a 

 word in the ancient Gothii . fignifying to cut: 



but Wormius, with greater probability, derives rune from 

 either tyn, afurroiu, or ren, a gutter or channel. As thefe 

 charaften were lirlt cut in wood or Hone, the refenablancr 

 4X2 to 



