Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
A large deity of Dāūjī resides nearby, to the east of Triveṇī-kūpa, in the middle of dense thorny hīṅsa bushes. This temple was built by Rājā Ṭoḍaramala on the order of Śrī Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa.
Śrī Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa was a Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācārya. He took birth in the state of Madhurāpattana in South India. His father, Śrī Bhaṭṭajī of the Bhaṭṭabhāskara Tailaṅga brāhmaṇa-paramparā of that place, was famous for his erudition. Śrī Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa became detached from the material world at the age of fourteen and came to Vraja around 1546 AD. He was especially dedicated to Śrīmatī Rādhikā. It is well known that the present deity in the Śrījī Temple in Varsānā manifested as a result of the special prayers of Śrī Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa. These deities manifested on the second day of the bright moon in the month of Āṣāḍha (July) in 1570 AD.
Śrī Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa had undivided faith in Vraja. In his famous work, Vraja-bhakti-vilāsa, he describes all the pastime places of Kṛṣṇa in Vraja in great detail. Śrī Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa inaugurated the enactment of rāsa-līlā, which is still being carried out today. The priests and brāhmaṇas of the Śrījī Temple, Varsānā, take initiation from the descendants of Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. Bhaṭṭajī’s main engagement was serving in the Dāūjī Temple in Ūñcāgaon.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This temple is dedicated to Lord Balarama or Dauji, Krishna’s elder brother, who is said to have performed pastimes and played childhood games with His cowherd boyfriends at this place. The Deity was discovered buried in the ground by Shrila Narayana Bhatta and with the financial help of Raja Todarmal, Emperor Akbar’s Finance Minister, a temple was built and the ancient Deity of Dauji was installed at this place. Narayana Bhatta spent the rest of his life engaged in the ‘seva-puja’ of Lord Dauji for whom Narayana Bhatta had a special attraction.
