Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c24.103

v1.c24.103

Dhaniṭṭhaka.—An example of a low family name.¹ 1. Dhaniya.—Dhanika. A herdsman living on the bank of the river Mahī. He was a seṭṭhiputta of Dhammakoṇḍa in Pabbatarattha, which belonged to the kingdom of Videha. He had thirty thousand oxen and twenty thousand cows. He had seven sons and seven daughters and numerous retainers. In the dry season he lived on an island formed by the two forks of the river Mahī, and in the rainy season in a house on the upland. One day, while he was in this house, having finished his preparations for the approach of the rains, he sat meditating on his comfortable circumstances and broke forth into song in token of his happiness. The Buddha heard the song at Sāvatthi, seven hundred leagues away, and having travelled through the air, stood over Dhaniya’s dwelling. As Dhaniya proceeded with his song, the Buddha added a verse to each one of Dhaniya’s. At the end of this song Dhaniya, his wife, and two of his daughters, became sotāpannas. The Buddha then revealed himself and Dhaniya and his wife entered the Order. Later they became arahants and the cowherds erected for their use a monastery, which came to be called the Gokulaṅka-vihāra.¹