Like other traditional cultures, ancient Indian scriptures considered water a sacred element and it formed the most essential part of all rituals. It was  a strict practice to keep water in a vessel at the place where the rituals were being performed, especially when chanting holy scriptures. It is considered a sin to do any rituals without water even if one does not offer flowers, fruit or any other food to God. After the rituals, the water is usually given as 'prasad'  in temples and homes.

         In Indian temples after the priest does the chanting he distributes water which carries the sound vibrations of the chanting. There is a great secret behind this practice. The sounds produced during chanting of holy scriptures have great influence on the health of the people listening to it. The healing effect of sounds is scientifically proven and need not be described here. Water has a remarkable property of absorbing subtle sound vibrations. Drinking this water after chanting will be doubly beneficial because the sound vibrations will reach each and every part of the cells in the body through water.

The sacred syllable "AUM" was written on a glass of water and the crystal structure that was observed is shown below:
 

This explains again why in Indian temples, herbs were added to the water before  chanting of Vedic scriptures. The most common herbs used include bilva, basil, camphor, neem, turmeric, darba grass etc. This herbal water is usually given  to the  devotees after worship.