An ascetic practice in which the practitioner lights four fires, one for each of the four directions, and then sits down in the middle of them as the sun, the fifth fire, blazes directly overhead. This practice is also said to be done especially during the hot season.

Literally meaning “five heats” or “fivefold ascetic practice,” within Brahamanical sources this term refers to the ascetic practice of sitting at the center of four fires during the hot season in India, with the sun above equaling five.

An ascetic practice in which the practitioner remains in the middle of four fires (each in the four directions) with the sun overhead constituting the fifth fire.

The ascetic practice of sitting between “five fires,” i.e., a fire in each cardinal direction with the sun overhead.