Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c31.837

v2.c31.837

It is said that for three years after his ordination Mahādeva⁵ lived in the Maṇḍalārāmaka-vihāra. One day, while going for alms in Kallagāma, near by, he was invited by an upāsikā to her dwelling, where she gave him a meal, and, regarding him as a son, invited him to take all his meals at her home. The invitation was accepted, and each day, after the meal, he would return thanks with the words “May you be happy and free from sorrow” (*sukhaṃ hotu, dukkhā mucca*). At the end of the rainy season he became an arahant, and the chief incumbent of the Vihāra entrusted him with the task of preaching to the assembled people on the Pavāraṇa-Day. The young novices informed the upāsikā that her “son” would preach that day, but she, thinking they were making fun of her, said that not everyone could preach. But they persuaded her to go to the vihāra, and, when the turn of Maliyadeva came, he preached all through the night. At dawn he stopped, and the upāsikā became a sotāpanna.