Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This temple contains the famous govardhana-shila that is non-different from the tongue of Giriraja Maharaja. The word ‘jihva’ means ‘tongue’ and the worship of this particular shila was established by Raghunatha Dasa Goswami. After the excavation of Radha-kunda undertaken by Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, the local population gradually expanded as more and more devotees came to live at Radha-kunda. As Raghunatha did not want people washing clothes or cleaning cooking utensils in the sacred kunda, he decided to excavate an ancient well formerly used by the gopis known as Gopi Kupa, so that local residents could obtain water for washing clothes and pots without polluting Radha-kunda. During the course of digging inside the well, the workmen suddenly struck a rock which began to bleed. The workers were horrified, and fearing that it was some kind of bad omen or a serious offence, they ran to inform Raghunatha Dasa. Upon hearing the news Raghunatha immediately halted the excavation work to consider the situation. That night in a dream, Giriraja Maharaja, Govardhana Hill personified, appeared before Raghunatha and informed him that the rock that was inadvertently struck and began to bleed, was in fact His own tongue. In the dream, Giriraja told Raghunatha to remove the rock and after placing it in a suitable temple, he should worship it every day by offering Radha-kunda water and tulasi leaves. It is said that one who circumambulate this jihva-shila seven times receives the same benefit as performing a full parikrama of the Govardhana Hill.
