A very rich householder of Bhaddiyanagara in Anga. He was the father of Dhanańjaya and, therefore, the grandfather of Visákhá. He was one of the five Treasurers of Bimbisára. When the Buddha visited Bhaddiya, Mendaka, with the help of Visákhá, entertained him and the monks, and, after listening to the Buddha, he became a sotápanna. DhA.i.384ff.; he had been earlier a follower of the heretics. The heretics tried in vain to stop him from visiting the Buddha; AA.i.219f.
It is said (Vin.i.240f.; also PSA.509; DhA.iii.372f.; Vsm.383; the accounts differ slightly ) that when he went to his granaries after his ceremonial bath, as he stood at the door, showers of grain would fall from heaven and fill the stores. His wife, Candapadumá, would cook one measure of rice and one curry and serve the food, ladle in hand. As long as there were people coming to receive the food, so long would the food cooked be un-exhausted. Mendaka's son, Dhanańjaya, would put one thousand pieces into a purse and give money from this purse to all who needed it, and at the end of the day the purse would remain full. His daughter in law, Sumanadeví, would sit by a basket containing four donas of seed paddy and distribute from this supply among the servants, enough to last for six months, but the supply of paddy would remain unexhausted. Mendaka's slave, Punnaka, ploughed his fields with a golden plough. With every furrow so ploughed, six other furrows would appear, three on either side, each one ammana wide. These five people came to be known as the five very lucky ones (Pańcamahápuńńá). When Bimbisára heard of this, he sent his minister to Bhaddiya with a fourfold army and discovered that it was true.
When the Buddha left Bhaddiya for Anguttarápa, Mendaka gave orders to his servants and followed the Buddha with abundant provisions of all sorts, entertaining the Buddha and his monks with luxurious food and fresh milk. At the end of the meal, Mendaka provided the monks with ghee and butter for their journey. At first the monks were unwilling to accept the gifts, but the Buddha, at Mendaka's request, allowed them to do so (Viii.i.243ff).
Mendaka was so called ("Ram") because, behind his house, in a yard eight karísas in extent, some golden rams pranced up and down, as big as elephants, horses or bulls, hoofing the earth, smiting each other back to back. Whenever Mendaka needed food or garments or money, he would place balls of colored thread in the mouths of the rams, and when he pulled these out, there would follow them all that he needed (PSA.504; BuA.24).
All this was because of good deeds done in the past by Mendaka. In the time of Vipassí Buddha, he was a householder named Avaroja. He had an uncle of the same name, and when the latter proposed building a Gandhakuti for the Buddha, his nephew wished to help with it. But the uncle refused his help. He therefore built an Elephant Hall (kuńjarasálá) opposite the Gandhakuti. In the middle of the hall was a jeweled pavilion with a seat for preaching, which contained a foot rest, all this supported by golden rams. At the festival of dedication, he gave alms for four mouths to sixty eight hundred thousand monks and presented them with sets of three robes each, the robes given to the novices being worth one hundred thousand. After many births, he was born in this age as setthi of Benares.
One day, when on his way to the palace, he met the purohita, who told him that there would be a famine in three months. Profiting by this warning, the Treasurer exerted himself to collect all possible grain and store it in every available place. The famine came, and for many months the Treasurer and his retinue lived on the stored grain, but, in the end, the supplies were exhausted, and most of them, acting on his advice, went to the mountains in search of food. He, his wife, his son and daughter in law and a slave remained behind. One day, his wife cooked a náli of rice which she had hidden away and divided it into five portions. As the family were about to eat, a Pacceka Buddha came to the door for alms; they all gave him their portions of food and made various wishes. As a result of these earnest wishes, Mendaka and the members of his family and his slave possessed the supernatural powers above mentioned. During the afternoon, after the Pacceka Buddha had had the food, the Treasurer felt very hungry and asked his wife if there were any lumps of rice sticking to the bottom of the pot. She went into the kitchen to the pot and found it full of fragrant food. From that time their supply of food never failed. DhA.iii.363ff.; but according to DhA.iv.203, Mendaka's name in the time of Vipassí Buddha was Aparájita. He was a nephew of that Aparájita who, in this life, became Jotiya sethi. (See also Divyávadána, pp.123ff., 131ff.).
Mendaka's grandson was Uggaha (q.v.).