This paper analyzes Vedic philosophy, the structural basis of currently practiced Hinduism, to demonstrate that water and the human body in the Hindu social system are not merely physical entities. By presenting field research on water use in a rural Hindu society, the paper shows that the caste-based social hierarchy is determined locally through notions of purity and pollution. These notions are used in local culture in determining and reinforcing an inequitable access to, control over and distribution of water and water use rights.