Mbh 3.133.1a

“Ashtavakra said, ‘When no Brahmana is met with on the way, the way belongeth to the blind, the deaf, the women, carriers of burden, and the king respectively. But when a Brahmana is met with on the way, it belongeth to him alone.’ Thereupon the king said, ‘I give the privilege to enter. Do thou, therefore, go in by whatever way thou likest. No fire ever so small is to be slighted. Even Indra himself boweth unto the Brahmanas.’ At this Ashtavakra said, ‘We have come, O ruler of men, to witness thy sacrificial ceremony and our curiosity, O king, is very great. And we have come here as guests. We want the permission of thy order (to enter). And, O son of Indradyumna, we have come, desirous of seeing the sacrifice, and to meet king Janaka and speak to him. But thy warder obstructs us and for this our anger burneth us like fever.’ The warder said, ‘We carry out the orders of Vandin. Listen to what I have to say. Lads are not permitted to enter here and it is only the learned old Brahmanas that are allowed to enter.’ Ashtavakra said. ‘If this be the condition, O warder, that the door is open to those only that are old, then we have a right to enter. We are old and we have observed sacred vows and are in possession of energy proceeding from the Vedic lore. And we have served our superiors and subdued our passions--and have also won proficiency in knowledge. It is said that even boys are not to be slighted,--for a fire, small though it be, burneth on being touched.’ The warder replied, ‘O young Brahmana, I consider you a boy, and therefore recite, if you know, the verse demonstrating the existence of the Supreme Being, and adored by the divine sages, and which, although composed of one letter, is yet multifarious. Make no vain boast. Learned men are really very rare.’ Ashtavakra said, ‘True growth cannot be inferred from the mere development of the body, as the growth of the knots of the Salmali tree cannot signify its age.