  (2) The argument takes the picture of causation used in the “potter-pot” example and extends it to cover all natural phenomena. God’s function is to make things out of the given and uncreated ingredients (the atoms, cf. the clay), which are the products’ material cause. Matilal accordingly describes the Nyāya as having a “potter model” of God, in contrast with a “spider model”, in which God spins the world out of his own essence, or a “magician” model, in which the world is an illusion conjured up by God. The argument, however, rests upon an anthropomorphic and agentive view of causation. The Buddhist Dharmakīrti ridiculed the argument by likening the pot to an anti-hill (another thing made of clay): should we say that this admittedly complex and intricate construction is the product of intelligent agents? And even if we do, why should not the world, like an ant-hill be a product of collective agency, rather than produced by a single agent?