Abstract

This paper advances relationalism as an epistemic alternative to the fragmented relativism embedded in colonial-modern epistemology. By integrating insights from Sāṁkhya metaphysics, Mahāyāna Buddhist interdependence (Pratītyasamutpāda), and contemporary cognitive science, it redefines intelligence (Buddhi) as a relational, participatory force rather than a mechanistic or contextually fragmented function. The study critiques modernity’s privileging of materialist essentialism, arguing that potentiality (Puruṣa) and actuality (Prakṛti) exist in dynamic interplay, where the incorporeal remains fundamental while the corporeal is consequential. Similarly, Mahāyāna Buddhist relational ontology reveals that actuality emerges through networked convergence, challenging the ontological assumptions of Enlightenment scientism. This paper also explores the implications of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) within a pluriversal epistemic framework, proposing that AI must transcend computational reductionism and align with an ontology of relational intelligence that fosters epistemic justice and planetary-scale ethical engagement. By reclaiming intelligence as a mode of epistemic and existential liberation, this study argues for a shift from extractive knowledge paradigms to participatory ontologies, fostering a pluriversal future that transcends the limitations of modernity and its colonial legacies.