Text 34
amoghaṁ deva-sandarśam
ādadhe tvayi cātmajam
yonir yathā na duṣyeta
kartāhaṁ te sumadhyame
amogham — without failure; deva-sandarśam — meeting with the demigods; ādadhe — I shall give (my semen); tvayi — unto you; ca — also; ātmajam — a son; yoniḥ — the source of birth; yathā — as; na — not; duṣyeta — becomes polluted; kartā — shall arrange; aham — I; te — unto you; sumadhyame — O beautiful girl.
The sun-god said: O beautiful Pṛthā, your meeting with the demigods cannot be fruitless. Therefore, let me place my seed in your womb so that you may bear a son. I shall arrange to keep your virginity intact, since you are still an unmarried girl.
According to Vedic civilization, if a girl gives birth to a child before she is married, no one will marry her. Therefore although the sun-god, after appearing before Pṛthā, wanted to give her a child, Pṛthā hesitated because she was still unmarried. To keep her virginity undisturbed, the sun-god arranged to give her a child that came from her ear, and therefore the child was known as Karṇa. The custom is that a girl should be married akṣata-yoni, that is, with her virginity undisturbed. A girl should never bear a child before her marriage.