During Dwapara Yuga, Lord Krishna convinced the cowherd men to worship Govardhana, instead of doing a sacrifice to please Lord Indra,the king of heaven, who is in charge of the rain. Krishna told the cowherd men that Govardhana Hill was supplying so many necessities and should be worshiped instead.

His reasons for discouraging the sacrificed performed to please Indra were twofold. First, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita there is no need to worship the demigods for any material advancement; all results derived from worshipping the demigods are temporary. Secondly, whatever temporary result one derives is actually granted by the permission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Nanda Maharaja and the cowherd men called in learned brahmanas and began to worship Govardhana Hill by chanting Vedic hymns and offering prasadam. The inhabitants of Vrindavana dressed up themselves nicely and decorated their cows, gopis dressed up luxuriantly sat in bull-driven carts, chanting the glories of Krishna’s pastimes. The brahmanas offered their blessings to cowherd men, their wives and the gopis. In order to convince the devotees that Govardhana Hill and Krishna himself was identical he assumed a great transcedental form and declared himself as Govardhana Hill. Krishna began to eat all the food offered there. The identity of Krishna and Govardhana Hill is still honoured, and devotees take rocks from Govardhana Hill and worship them as Lord Krishna.

After the cowherd men worshiped Govardhana Hill, Lord Indra became angry that he was not worshiped. He sent torrents of rain upon Vrindavana. The residents approached Krishna for help. Krishna then lifted Govardhana Hill and held it over the residents of Vrindavana like an umbrella.

"The inhabitants lived there with their animals for one week without being disturbed by hunger, thirst or any other discomforts. Krishna holded the mountain with the little finger of left hand. Seeing extraordinary mystic power of Krishna, Indra, was thunderstruck and baffled in his determination. He immediately called for all the clouds and asked them to desist."

Indra came along with a Surabhi cow and offered prayers to Lord Krishna and then worshipped him.

Lord Caitanya has recommended that since Krishna is worshipable, so His Land Vrindavana and Govardhana Hill, are also worshipable. Govardhana puja has been going on since then and is known as Annakuta. In all the temples of Vrindavana huge quantities of food are prepared in this ceremony and are distributed to general public.