The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c8.82

v1.c8.82

**Removal of bones :** After selecting the land great attention should be paid to remove whatever bones it may contain; for bones, particularly those of Caṇḍālas, are reckoned to be highly injurious to buildings. If no bones are found, and still there should be any suspicion of the presence of any such offensive matter, a ceremony has to be performed named *Śailoddhāra*, which is esteemed as highly effectual in neutralising the evil effects of bones under a building. Certain ceremonies have also to be perfomed before and after the completion of a building, of which an interesting account, by Bābu Pratāpacandra Ghoṣa, will be found in the *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal* for 1870, p. 199, *et seq.* A summary of it here is scarcely needed.²⁹