According to Jainism, water (known as "apya" or "ap-kaay" in Jain philosophy) is itself considered to be a living being (jeev). Jainism teaches that there are countless (anant) souls, and among the classification of living beings (jeev), water is considered a one-sensed (ekendriya) organism, possessing only the sense of touch.

Jain scriptures describe five types of one-sensed beings: earth-bodied, water-bodied, fire-bodied, air-bodied, and plant-bodied. Each drop of natural, unboiled water is believed to contain innumerable water-bodied souls (ap-kaay jeev). Thus, water is not just a substance but is composed of infinite individual souls, each with its own existence.

Therefore, according to Jainism, there are innumerable (anant) water-bodied jeev present in water. This is one of the reasons why Jain ethics emphasizes carefulness (ahimsa) even when using or consuming water.