- Inside the attention space of the competing sages, a high degree of
overcrowding had been reached. The law of small numbers holds that be-
yond three to six distinctive positions, most intellectuals will be unable to
acquire followers and keep their position going in the reputational space across
the generations. This is what we see in the Upanishads: a very large num-
ber of positions, none shaped into a well-recognized doctrine, and a multi-
tude of sages, virtually none of them receiving widespread reputation. At
the time of the Buddha there were the famous “six non-conformist teachers,”
plus many other positions; one Buddhist sutra mentions 62 sects, while the
Jaina canons refer to as many as 363 schools (Chakravarti, 1987: 35; Isayeva,
1993: 23). The focus of attention created by Buddhists and Jainas drasti-
FIGURE 5.1. INDIAN NETWORK, 800–400 B.C.E.:
THE FOUNDING RIVALRIES
External and Internal Politics: India • 201
