Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa ("of a hundred paths") 7.3.1.23

7.3.1.23

athottarataḥ | iṣamūrjamahamita ādamitīṣamūrjamahamita ādada ityetadṛtasya yonimiti satyaṃ vā ṛtaṃ satyasya yonimityetanmahiṣasya dhārāmityagnirvai mahiṣaḥ sa hīdaṃ jāto mahāntsarvamaiṣṇādā mā goṣu viśatvā tanūṣvityātmā vai tanūrā mā goṣu cātmani ca viśatvityetajjahāmi sedimanirāmamīvāmiti sikatāḥ pradhvaṃsayati tadyaiva sediryānirā yāmīvā tāmetasyāṃ diśi dadhāti tasmādetasyāṃ diśi prajā aśanāyukāstāmāhṛtyāntareṇa pakṣasaṃdhimātmannupadadhāti sa ya udīcyāṃ diśi raso 'tyakṣarattamasminnetaddadhātyatho udīcīmevāsminnetaddiśa dadhāti

Then from the north, with (Vâg. S. XII, 105), 'Sap and strength have I taken from here,'--that is, 'Sap and strength I take from here;'--'the womb of sacred law,' the sacred law doubtless is the truth: thus, 'the womb of the truth;'--'the stream of the mighty,' the mighty (buffalo, or mahisha) doubtless is Agni, for he, being born here great (mahat), animated everything;--'May it accrue to me in the cows, in the bodies,'--the body is the self: thus, 'May it accrue to me both in the cows and in (my own) self;'--'I leave behind decline, weakness, sickness!' therewith he spreads the sand (by stroking): he thereby consigns to that (northern) region whatever decline, weakness, and sickness there is; whence hungry people (live) in that region. Having brought that (clod), he puts it on the body (of the altar) on the middle of the junction of the (left) wing (and the body): he thereby puts into him (Agni) what vital sap flowed away in the northerly direction; and also the northern region itself he bestows upon him.