Asatkāryavāda is an important theory of causation in Indian metaphysics, especially associated with the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika school. The term literally means “the doctrine that the effect is non-existent before its production.” According to this view, an effect is a genuinely new entity that comes into existence when the appropriate causal conditions operate. Thus, the effect does not exist in the cause in a manifest or latent form before production. Production is therefore understood as the origination of something that was previously absent. The theory is mainly opposed to Satkāryavāda, accepted by Sāṃkhya and some other philosophical traditions. Satkāryavāda maintains that the effect pre-exists in its material cause and that causation is essentially a process of manifestation or transformation. Asatkāryavāda, in contrast, maintains that the effect is different from the cause and is produced anew. For example, before a pot is made, the pot does not exist as a pot in the clay. The clay exists, but the particular entity called “pot” comes into existence only after the potter, wheel, stick and other causal conditions operate. Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika philosophers argue that if the effect already existed in the cause, production would become unnecessary. Something that already exists cannot