House construction and vaastu: What if bone is found while digging for foundation

Many people have doubts about unsuitable places for building a house. Vaastu Shastra (traditional Hindu architecture and design principles) speaks about types of land that should be avoided for house construction. Firstly, it says non-arable land should be avoided. This might raise the question of whether paddy fields can be used for building houses.

While paddy fields are arable land, it's said that houses shouldn't be built there. Others ask if there's a problem if a paddy field is filled to make it dry land. Even then, generally, it's said it shouldn't be done. There's logic behind this. If land set aside for agriculture is used for construction, where will agriculture happen? Therefore, such land should not be wasted.

Furthermore, building foundations there will be expensive and has the risk of structural issues. Sometimes, it might be a waterlogged area. Shastra says that nothing should be done that harms the environment. It reveals this through certain indicators. Some areas are surrounded by hills. One should check if the north and east are lower. It's also important to check if sufficient air and light can enter the house.

Can a cemetery be used?
There are two types of cemeteries: public cemeteries and those in family compounds. The former should never be used, and moreover, it serves a community need. Cremations which are very rare in the home are not a major concern. If it's a burial, building a house there will be difficult. If it's cremation, it's not much of a problem. The reason is that there's no need to leave the land after a burial. There is a custom of planting coconut trees, banana trees, and colocasia to make it arable land. In fact, what Shastra says about this is that bones shouldn't be present under the land intended for building a house.

This means that bone-free land is habitable. If bones are completely removed, no significant vaastu defects are found. It must be said that it's our mental discomfort that prevents us in such matters. Another problem today is how to know if there are bones underneath. When land is sold in 5 or 10 cents plots, it is only possible to check these things to a limited extent.