parinama

Parinama, from the Sanskrit parināma, means transformation or change. In Indian philosophy, it denotes the process by which something comes to be in a new state as a result of causation. The term is used to explain how a cause yields an effect that is genuinely different from the initial state, while some schools also discuss whether that change is a real transformation or only appears so.

A central contrast in discussions of parinama is between parinama-vada (the doctrine of real transformation) and vivarta-vada (the doctrine of apparent transformation). Proponents of parinama-vada hold that the effect is a true modification of the cause; a thing’s later form is contained in a transformed state of the original substrate. In various Indian systems, the universe may be described as arising through the transformation of prakriti (in Samkhya and related schools) or through a real modification of a cosmic cause. In contrast, proponents of vivarta-vada argue that change is not a real transformation of the underlying substance but a misperception or superimposition, with Brahman or the ultimate reality remaining unchanged while appearing as the diverse world.

Beyond cosmology, parinama is used in discussions of knowledge, ontology, and causation to account for how familiarity with a thing persists through change and how new states relate to prior ones. The concept has been developed and debated across Nyaya-Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Vedanta, and other Indian philosophical traditions, contributing to ongoing inquiries into how change, identity, and continuity are possible within a coherent metaphysical system.