Pabbhāravāsī Tissa Thera
Having received a topic of meditation from the Buddha, he went into the forest. Seeing a cave, he dwelt there, a woman from the neighbouring village supplying him with food. The deity in the cave found the elder’s presence inconvenient, but could think of no excuse for asking him to go away, his life having been spotless. However, after much thinking, she hit upon a plan; she took possession of the body of the youngest son of the woman who supplied the elder, and wrung his neck, telling the mother that he would be cured if she could get certain things from the elder as medicine. This the woman refused to do, but, in the end, she consented to throw on the head of her son, with the elder’s permission, the water used for washing the latter’s feet. When the elder returned to his cave the deity addressed him as “physician.” He could not understand this until she had told him the story. Then realising how blameless his life had been, he was filled with joy and attained Arahantship. However, because the deity had tried to bring calumny on him, he asked her to leave the forest. DhA.iii.169 ff.