Vaishampayana said : O descendant of Pandu, your question is just. I shall tell you how it happened. The great ascetic, the illustrious Rishi himself, sprinkled that ball of fresh with cool water and begin to divide it into hundred parts, O king, as it was being divided into parts, the nurse began to take them up and put them one by one into the jars filled with ghee. In the meanwhile the beautiful and chaste Gandhari of rigid vows, feeling the affection for a daughter. Reflected in her mind, there is no doubt that I shall have one hundred sons. The Rishi had said this and it cannot be otherwise. If a daughter is born to me over and above my one hundred sons, I shall be exceedingly happy.
वैशम्पायन उवाच साध्वयं प्रश्न उद्दिष्टः पाण्डवेय ब्रवीमि ते। तां मांसपेशी भगवान् स्वयमेव महातपाः॥ शीताभिरद्धिरासिच्य भागं भागमकल्पयत्। यो यथा कल्पितो भागस्तं तं धात्र्या तथा नृप॥ घृतपूर्णेषु कुण्डेषु एकैकं प्राक्षिपत् तदा। एतस्मिन्नन्तरे साध्वी गान्धारी सृदृढव्रता॥ दुहितुः स्नेहसंयोगमनुध्याय वराङ्गना। मनसाचिन्तयद् देवी एतत् पुत्रशतं मम॥ भविष्यति न संदेहो न ब्रवीत्यन्यथा मुनिः। ममेयं परमा तुष्टिर्दुहिता मे भवेद् यदि॥