Ashtakoota — The Eight Kootas

The eight categories

Ashtakoota — ashta, eight; koota, category — is the eight-part scoring scheme behind Kundli Milan. Each koota compares one attribute of the two Moons, and each has its own maximum. They add to 36.

#	Koota	Max	Compares
1	Varna	1	Moon-sign varna rank
2	Vashya	2	Moon-sign creature class
3	Tara	3	Star distance, both directions
4	Yoni	4	Nakshatra animal
5	Graha Maitri	5	Moon-sign lords’ friendship
6	Gana	6	Deva / Manushya / Rakshasa
7	Bhakoot	7	Moon-sign distance
8	Nadi	8	Aadi / Madhya / Antya

The weights are not arbitrary and they are not equal — they are the tradition telling you what it thinks matters. Varna is worth one point; Nadi is worth eight. Everything below is what the engine actually does with each.

Every koota reads only the Moon: its sign, its degree in that sign, its nakshatra, and its pada. Nothing else in either chart is consulted.

1. Varna — 1 point

Each Moon sign carries a varna rank, by element:

Varna	Rank	Signs
Brahmin	4	Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Kshatriya	3	Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Vaishya	2	Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Shudra	1	Gemini, Libra, Aquarius

The rule is directional: the groom scores the point if his rank is equal to or higher than the bride’s, and zero if it is lower. There is no partial credit.

It is worth naming plainly what this is. Varna Koota is the one koota with no astronomical content at all — it maps signs onto a social hierarchy and then requires the man to rank at or above the woman. We compute it because it is part of the 36 and omitting it would give you a score no almanac would recognise. It is one point out of thirty-six, and the reader can decide what that point is worth.

2. Vashya — 2 points

Each sign belongs to a creature class: Chatushpad (quadruped), Jalachar (aquatic), Vanchar (wild), Keet (insect) or Dwipad (biped).

Two signs are split by degree, which is why the Moon’s exact longitude matters: Sagittarius is Dwipad in its first 15° and Chatushpad after; Capricorn is Chatushpad in its first 15° and Jalachar after.

The score comes from a 5×5 matrix read as [bride][groom], and it is deliberately asymmetric — who is influenced by whom is the whole idea of the koota:

Bride ↓ / Groom →	Chatushpad	Jalachar	Vanchar	Keet	Dwipad
Chatushpad	2	0	2	0	0
Jalachar	1	2	0	1	1
Vanchar	1	0	2	0	0
Keet	0	1	0	2	1
Dwipad	1	1	1	0	2

3. Tara — 3 points

Tara (also Dina) counts the distance between the two birth stars, and it counts it twice.

The inclusive count from the groom’s nakshatra forward to the bride’s is reduced modulo 9 to a position 1–9. Positions 3 (Vipat), 5 (Pratyari) and 7 (Vadha) are the inauspicious taras and score nothing; every other position scores 1.5. Then the same count is taken from the bride forward to the groom, worth another 1.5.

So Tara is only ever 0, 1.5 or 3 — both directions bad, one bad, or neither. The same nine-tara cycle drives the Tarabalam reading elsewhere in the app.

4. Yoni — 4 points

Each of the 27 nakshatras is assigned an animal — its yoni. Fourteen animals cover the 27 stars, so most animals own two nakshatras and Chitra’s Tiger shares with Vishakha, and so on.

The scoring is three-valued:

Relationship	Score
Same yoni	4
Enemy pair	0
Anything else	2

The seven mortal-enemy pairs, each mutual:

Horse – Buffalo	Elephant – Lion
Sheep – Monkey	Snake – Mongoose
Dog – Deer	Cat – Rat
Cow – Tiger

Every animal appears in exactly one enemy pair. Classical texts grade the in-between cases more finely than we do — see the limits section.

5. Graha Maitri — 5 points

The friendship of the two Moon-sign lords, using the same natural Maitri table the rest of the engine uses, so it cannot drift out of step. The relation is read in both directions and the pair of verdicts decides the score:

Both lords’ mutual relation	Score
Same planet lords both signs	5
Friend / Friend	5
Friend / Neutral	4
Neutral / Neutral	3
Friend / Enemy	1
Neutral / Enemy	0.5
Enemy / Enemy	0

This is the only koota that can produce a half point, and the only one that reaches outside the Moon itself — to the planets that own the Moons’ signs.

6. Gana — 6 points

Each nakshatra belongs to a gana — a temperament class. Nine stars each:

Gana	Nakshatras
Deva	Ashwini, Mrigashira, Punarvasu, Pushya, Hasta, Swati, Anuradha, Shravana, Revati
Manushya	Bharani, Rohini, Ardra, Purva Phalguni, Uttara Phalguni, Purva Ashadha, Uttara Ashadha, Purva Bhadrapada, Uttara Bhadrapada
Rakshasa	Krittika, Ashlesha, Magha, Chitra, Vishakha, Jyeshtha, Mula, Dhanishta, Shatabhisha

Scored [bride][groom], and again asymmetric:

Bride ↓ / Groom →	Deva	Manushya	Rakshasa
Deva	6	5	1
Manushya	5	6	0
Rakshasa	1	0	6

Same gana always scores full marks. The engine flags Gana Dosha when the score is 1 or 0 — that is, whenever one partner is Rakshasa and the other is not. Note the asymmetry: a Rakshasa bride with a Manushya groom scores 0, and so does a Manushya bride with a Rakshasa groom, but a Rakshasa/Deva pairing scores 1 in either direction.

7. Bhakoot — 7 points

The distance between the two Moon signs, counted inclusively in both directions. The resulting pair of counts decides everything — and this koota is all-or-nothing.

Three pairs are penalised, scoring zero and raising Bhakoot Dosha:

Distance pair	Name
2 / 12	Dwi-Dwadasha
5 / 9	Nava-Panchama
6 / 8	Shadashtaka

The classically praised distances — 1/1, 1/7, 3/11 and 4/10 — score the full 7 and are labelled harmonious. Everything else also scores the full 7, labelled merely acceptable. So in practice Bhakoot is a penalty test, not a merit test: you have 7 points unless you land on one of those three pairs.

When the dosha does fire, the engine checks two classical cancellation grounds and reports whichever applies — the same planet lords both Moon signs, or the two lords are mutual friends. It reports them. It does not restore the seven points.

8. Nadi — 8 points

The heaviest koota, and the simplest rule. Each nakshatra belongs to one of three nadis — Aadi, Madhya or Antya — nine stars each:

Nadi	Nakshatras
Aadi	Ashwini, Ardra, Punarvasu, Uttara Phalguni, Hasta, Jyeshtha, Mula, Shatabhisha, Purva Bhadrapada
Madhya	Bharani, Mrigashira, Pushya, Purva Phalguni, Chitra, Anuradha, Purva Ashadha, Dhanishta, Uttara Bhadrapada
Antya	Krittika, Rohini, Ashlesha, Magha, Swati, Vishakha, Uttara Ashadha, Shravana, Revati

Different nadis: 8 points. Same nadi: 0, and Nadi Dosha. There is no middle.

Nadi Dosha is the objection most traditions take most seriously, and losing it costs more than any other single failure in the system. As with Bhakoot, the engine checks the classical softening grounds — same nadi but different Moon signs, or same nakshatra but different pada — and prints them beside the result. The score stays zero.

Reading the total

The eight scores are summed, plainly, to a total out of 36. There is no weighting, normalisation or rounding beyond what each koota produces. The verdict bands and the wider report are covered in Kundli Milan.

Because Nadi and Bhakoot are binary and worth 15 between them, the distribution of realistic totals is lumpy rather than smooth. A pair that clears both starts from 15 before the other six kootas contribute; a pair that fails both cannot exceed 21 no matter how well matched they are elsewhere. Knowing that makes the number much easier to read honestly.

What we do not compute

• Cancellations are surfaced, not applied. Both Bhakoot and Nadi print their classical cancellation grounds when those hold, and both still score zero. The app shows you the grounds and leaves the judgement with you and your astrologer. This is a deliberate policy, and it is the main reason our totals can sit below other calculators’ on identical charts.
• Only two cancellation grounds per dosha. Bhakoot checks same lord and mutual-friend lords. Nadi checks different Moon signs and different pada within the same nakshatra. The literature carries more grounds than these; we do not implement them.
• Yoni’s intermediate values are flat. Same is 4, enemy is 0, and everything else is 2. Classical tables grade friendly, neutral and unequal pairings into 3, 2 and 1. Ours is deliberately conservative pending golden tests.
• Tara is scored on the nine-position cycle only. No further weighting for which specific bad tara was hit.
• No Ashtakoota-level dosha beyond Gana, Bhakoot and Nadi. Those three are the flags the engine raises within the eight kootas.
• Nothing outside the Moon. No Lagna, no seventh house, no aspects, no dignity, no divisional charts — those live in other sections of the match report, not in the 36.

Notes on these tables

• All eight kootas read only the Moon: sign, degree, nakshatra, pada.
• Varna 1, Vashya 2, Tara 3, Yoni 4, Graha Maitri 5, Gana 6, Bhakoot 7, Nadi 8 — summed plainly to 36.
• Bhakoot and Nadi are binary: full points or zero, 15 of the 36 between them.
• Graha Maitri reuses the app’s natural Maitri table rather than a private copy.
• The Vashya and Gana matrices are directional — [bride][groom] — as the tradition specifies.
• The Sagittarius and Capricorn Vashya split at 15° means the Moon’s degree, not just its sign, can change a score.