Abhava is classified into four types according to the Nyaya Vaiseshika. The Abhava of something is always known to be real, which is termed as the counter-positive technically. If true propositions have actual objective truth-makers absence must be a reality though not an actuality. The absence of an obstruction is just as much a reality as the presence of one.

The four sorts of Abhava are:
* Prag-abbava means prior absence, which has an end but no beginning. The non-existence of any product prior to its origination is what this Abhava implicates. The non-existence of curd in milk prior to their formation can be sited as an example.
* Pradbvamsa-abkava means destruction that has a beginning but no end. The non-existence of milk once the curds have formed is an example.
* Atyanta-abhava means unlimited absence. It is understood as holding in past, present and future. Logical and physical impossibilities are specified here.
* Anyonya-abhava refers to mutual absence. It is the denial of identity between two things. For example the pot and the cloth and the assertions that fire differs from water and the table is not the pot. This need does not involve any perception.

Abhava is a non-inherence, which means that it is empty of inherence and different from the inherence. Abhava is the object of a knowledge that is dependent on the knowledge of counterrelatum. According to the followers of Madhva, Abhava is the entity of adequate knowledge. The usefulness of Abhava is an established ideology as all agree that in the absence of cause, there is no effect.

This article is a stub. You can enrich by adding more information to it. Send your Write Up to content@indianetzone.com