Varahashrautasutra 2.2.1

Touching a white horse, he lays down the layers.

With 'Firm dwelling,' [he lays down] five Aśvin-bricks in the spaces.

Having laid [them] down, he lays down the season-bricks, five by five further on, in rounds with 'In union with the gods.'

He should append 'In union with the seasons' at the beginning of the rounds, and 'In union with the gods, the path-ordainers' at the end.

With 'Protect my breath,' he should lay down the wind-bricks after the season-bricks; with 'Swell the waters,' the water-bricks after the wind-bricks; with 'Dominion is strength,' the four [bricks] after the water-bricks; having laid [them] down in front, he lays down five by five on both sides with the subsequent rounds.

The rites common to all layers have been explained.

He lays down the third [layer].

Having consecrated the naturally-perforated brick with 'O Indra-and-Agni, [may] the unshakeable [pair],' he settles it with 'May Viśvakarman settle thee on the back of the atmosphere! Go to the atmosphere!'

Here, no ignorant person [is admitted], nor is a choice boon given.

He makes the sacrificer recite, 'I have stepped onto the atmosphere.'

Having laid down the gold brick in the spaces with 'Thou art light, bestow light upon me,' and the five directional bricks with 'Thou art queen, the eastern quarter,' [he settles] the semen-shedder or the two semen-shedders, the Viśvajyotis brick with 'May Viśvakarman settle thee on the back of the atmosphere, luminous,' and the round brick with 'Thou art named the unconquered.'

Having laid down ten in front with 'Protect my life,' he lays down twelve by twelve on each side with the subsequent rounds.

Seven in front with 'Thou art the head, the ruler,' and seven in the back with 'The regulator, the ruler.'

For one who has a rival, [they are placed] across, matching each other.

The rites common to all layers have been explained.

He lays down the fourth [layer].

With 'The swift one, the Trivṛt' in front, 'The atmosphere, the seventeenfold' in the south, 'The shining one, the fifteenfold' in the north, 'The supporter, the twenty-onefold' in the back, 'The rushing forward, the eighteenfold'—having laid down sixteen with the remainder, having laid down the two season-bricks, having laid down the seventeen creation-bricks with 'With one they praised,' he lays down the fifteen dawn-bricks with 'Wife of the seasons.'

The rites common to all layers have been explained.

He lays down the fifth [layer].

With 'O Agni, those who are born' in the west, 'The forty-fourfold stoma' in the north, and 'The loose soil of Agni' in the middle.

With 'Forty, the course is the meter,' he lays down the first group of ten in front, then the second in the back, the third in the south, and the fourth in the north.

Having placed thirty-three stomabhāga [bricks] in four groups of seven on the south with [the formula] ‘By the ray, quicken the dwelling for the dwelling’, he places five in the spaces.

With ‘You are the queen, the eastern direction’, [he places] five nākasad [bricks] in the spaces.

With ‘This one in front, yellow-haired’, he places five pañcacūḍā [bricks] upon the five nākasad [bricks], the last one facing east from the west.

With ‘You are the winner of the east wind’, [he places] five vṛṣṭisani [bricks] in the spaces; having placed two saṃyānī [bricks], [he places] sixteen with ‘Ambā and Bulā’.

With the three anuvākas [beginning with] ‘Whereby the sages’, thirty-one amṛta [bricks].

With ‘Tapas is the womb’, eight [bricks], and with ‘By the ṛc, by the metre, I seat you’.

With ‘The messenger of you all, all-knowing’, five [bricks].

He piles the metre-layer: with ‘This fire, having thousands’, three gāyatrī [verses/bricks] in front.

He places three by three on each side: with triṣṭubhs on the south; with jagatīs on the west; with anuṣṭubhs on the north.

He places with paṅktis in front; with bṛhatīs on the south; with uṣṇihs on the west; with kakubhs on the north.

Thus ends the first section in the second chapter on the piling [of the fire altar].