A merchant of Bārāṇasī. On his way to Sāvatthi with five hundred carts filled with cloth of the colour of safflower, he came to the river and unyoked his oxen, thinking to cross on the morrow. In the night it rained and there was a flood. For seven days the rain continued, and Mahādhana decided to stay until his wares were sold and then return home. The Buddha, on his begging rounds, saw him and smiled. When asked the reason by Ānanda, he said that the man, in spite of all his plans, had only seven days to live. With the Buddha’s permission, Ānanda warned Mahādhana, who thereupon invited the Buddha and his monks and entertained them. At the end of the meal the Buddha taught him and he became a Sotāpanna. Shortly after he was seized with pain in the head and died immediately, to be re born in Tusita. DhA.iii.429 f.