Asamavayi Karana is a philosophical concept of non-intimate cause. It is one of the karanani (causes) of any product; the other two are samavayi (intimate) and nimitta (instrumental causes).
Asamavayi-Karana or non-intimate cause is a link as it were
between the intimate cause and the product. It is a cause which is inseparably
united in the same object either with the effect or with the intimate cause. Hence,
it is of two kinds. One is intimately connected with the material cause and is
thus in samanadhikarana (apposition) with the product. The conjunction with
which the separate threads are held together and which enables them to form the
cloth piece is the asamavayi karana(non-intimate cause), because being a
quality, it resides in the threads by samvaya (intimate relation) and is thus
in apposition samanadhikarana with the cloth.
The example of the second kind of non-intimate cause is the
tanturupa (color of threads) which is the non-intimate cause of the patarupa
(color of the cloth). Because, it is intimately united with the tantu (intimate
cause) of the substance (pata) which is the intimate cause of patarupa – the color
of the cloth. The color of the threads is not the intimate cause of the piece
of cloth, because they are vyadhikarana (not in apposition), and so there can
be no connection between them. They are connected only indirectly. Both
tantusamyoga (conjunction of threads) and tanturupa (the color of threads) are,
however, called the asamavayi karana (non-intimate cause) of cloth (pata) and the
color of the cloth (patarupa) respectively.