Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c35.427

v2.c35.427

1. Vanavāsī (Vanavāsika) Tissa.—A monk. In his previous birth he was the brahmin Mahāsena (q.v.). During pregnancy his mother invited Sāriputta, with five hundred monks, to her house, and fed them on milk-rice. She herself put on yellow robes and ate of the rice left by the monks. On the day of his naming, he presented Sāriputta with his blanket. He was called Tissa after Sāriputta, whose personal name was Upatissa. At the age of seven Tissa joined the Order and his parents held a festival lasting for seven days, distributing porridge and honey to the monks. On the eighth day, when Tissa went for alms in Sāvatthi, he received one thousand bowls of alms and one thousand pieces of cloth, all of which he gave to the monks. This earned for him the name of Piṇḍapātadāyaka. One day, in the cold season, he saw monks warming themselves before fires and, discovering that they had no blankets, he, accompanied by one thousand monks, went into the city. Wherever he went people gave him blankets; one shopkeeper had hidden two of his very costly blankets, but on seeing Tissa he gave them willingly. Tissa thus got one thousand blankets and was thereafter called Kambaladāyaka.