‘WATER’ 6608, Maria Soosai Baskar INTRODUCTION: This paper deals about the Water, as a symbol of …. Symbolizing made up of three actions: 1.It originates from emotion, 2.It communicates power, 3. it provokes response. There are some distinctions between image, sign, and symbol. 1. Image: the relationship between the visible and invisible is one of external similarity. ( E.g. Photograph) 2. Sign: the relationship between the visible and invisible is one of conceptual similarity. Sign gives information and is uniform (e.g. National flag) 3. Symbol: the relationship between the visible the invisible is one of personal communion. Being emotional expression it is versatile. The function of a symbol 1. It alert someone 2. It informs not merely intellectually but emotionally 3. It also hides the reality 4. It leads to communion 5. It invites to search for complete knowledge and communion 1. ANTHROPOLOGICAL SENSES OF LITURGICAL SYMBOL Water plays a central and critical role in all the aspects of life in the environment in food and productions. Water has special significance for the religions. It is ancient and universal symbol of purity, fertility and the source of life. In many cosmologies, life arose from primordial water, a symbol of formless potentiality. Anthropologists contribute by seeing water not only as a resource, but also as a substance that connects many realms of social life. Today water has become an urgent theme in anthropology as the worldwide need to provide adequate supplies of water to all people. 2. PHENOMENOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE IN PSYCHOLOGY AND IN PHILOSOPHY Water is an archetype i.e. a basic image of the soul or of the unconscious layers of personality, which are inhabited by mysterious beings (Carl Gustav Jung) Water is the basic symbol of all unconscious energy. It has both positive and negative senses. positive: for standing and flowing waters: ponts, lakes, Seas, strands, streams and rivers. negative: riptides, torrents, flood. On the one hand, water is the most well-known life symbol and on the other hand, water is also a symbol for death. Hence, the symbol water is ambivalent. Water is an Archetype: Water is a symbol of life, cleansing, and rebirth. It is a strong life force, and is often depicted as a living, reasoning force. (Thales of Miletus, 600 BC) “The principle of all things is water .” “Everything is made of water, and everything returns to water.” Thales of Miletus thought that water is the principle basic substance of all