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Updated: May 3, 2025
Shod and covered, we passed up through the outer apartment to the sanctuary, where sat the grim image of Runga, incrusted in the congealed oil and ghee of many anointings, with the lightless lamp before him, faded garlands hanging round his neck, loads of dust settled on his person, and part of the roof falling in directly above. No room remained for doubt.
As often as Daniel pressed this duty upon him, so often did Runga declare, `I am not worthy to be called a Christian; I am not worthy to be as you are.
He told him of heaven and hell; showed him that unless he repented and believed in Christ he could not be saved. Sometimes Runga was attentive, and his case seemed hopeful, but at other times it was quite the reverse. At length he yielded to Daniel's invitation, and attended morning and evening in Daniel's house at the time for family devotions.
Sunday, December 20th, 1846, was the day fixed on for the baptism. The place was the chapel in which Daniel had been baptised about three years previously. The congregation was unusually large, and a solemn awe rested upon the people. The interest increased as the service proceeded. Vysha Runga was the priest's heathen name.
The faith which once adored Runga had changed into contempt; and we rejoiced over that forsaken idol, as an earnest of better days. We soon found he could not keep the lamp burning, nor the garlands fresh, nor the temple clean, nor do a single thing for himself.
A beaded broad belt supported a short sword and the runga, or war club; an oval shield of buffalo hide, brilliantly painted, hung on the left arm; a polished long-bladed spear was carried in the right hand. And surrounding the face, as a frame, was a queer headdress of black ostrich plumes.
There was no car, no procession, no music: and, when night came, no tom-tom was beaten, no rocket sent up, nor any other sign that it was the day of Runga. One morning, when preaching in the village, I observed that the old man who used to conduct the services of the temple, was not in the congregation; and feeling, for the moment, a suspicion lest he should have returned to his former occupation, I asked, `Where is the poojari? A young man instantly replied, smiling, and patting his person, `O, he has gone to the fields with the cattle: now that the temple is given up, he must do something for his stomach."
He then said, `Runga Swami has been thrown out of his temple, and is now outside the door among the stones.
Mr Arthur gives the following account: "About the time of my arrival, the inhabitants of the place declared that they had abandoned idolatry, and would no more honour the temple of Runga.
I believe in Christ for salvation, but I am too vile to be honoured with baptism. One day, by way of showing that he had done with idolatry, he took a number of iron things not idols, but instruments that had been used in idolatrous ceremonies by himself and his forefathers and with his own hands he made them into reaping-hooks and other useful farming instruments, preceding his work by the declaration, `These things won't be wanted any more in their present shape, so I will make something useful of them. When he was attacked by a fatal disease, some of the villagers said to him exultingly, `Ah! you have become a Christian; you trust in the Christian's God; let us see if He will cure you; He cannot; our god will kill you. Daniel said to the sick man, `Do you believe that their god can harm you? He said, `No, no! Daniel's wife then added, `But we all think you will die; are you afraid to die? He answered, `I am not afraid; I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. When he became worse, and it was evident that he had not many minutes to live, Daniel said to him, `Runga, continue to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He replied, `I believe ONLY on the Lord Jesus Christ, and in a few minutes he died.
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