# A girl worshipping the rising sun (Surya puja)

- By: Chokha (Indian, active c. 1799–1824)
- Date: c. 1810
- Medium: gum tempera and gold on paper
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Page: 23.8 x 17.1 cm (9 3/8 x 6 3/4 in.); Painting: 20.3 x 13.3 cm (8 x 5 1/4 in.)
- Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Devgarh
- Credit line: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2018.151)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2018.151/2018.151_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Clad in only her undergarment, an adolescent girl performs a ritual of morning prayer. She pours a stream of water that splashes down the steps of the platform on which she stands, her garland and orange sari on the ground behind her. Devotional practice in India can occur in nature, in the open air, without the presence of a temple, icon, or a priest.

Animals stir in the hills, and a goose has caught a fish. The artist appears to have connected the peace and bounty of the land with the pious act of honoring the sun with water.