Compatibility
Kundli Milan compares two charts before a marriage. The familiar 36-point score is one method within it — widely used, and narrower than its reputation suggests.
Kundli Milan (Match Making)Beginner
The Vedic marriage-matching ritual: two Moons compared across eight kootas for a score out of 36, plus the dosha checks and chart-level analysis that a score alone cannot carry.
Ashtakoota — The Eight KootasIntermediate
The eight categories of Guna Milan in detail — what each koota reads from the Moon, the table it scores against, and why Nadi and Bhakoot carry nearly half the points between them.
Mangal Dosha (Manglik / Kuja Dosha)Intermediate
The Mars affliction behind the word "Manglik": Mars in six specific houses from three reference points, checked in both charts, with the classical cancellation grounds surfaced rather than silently applied.
What the score actually measures
Ashtakoota Guna Milan is a compatibility method that reads one point in each chart: the position of the Moon, by nakshatra and by sign. Every one of the eight kootas is derived from that single placement.
This is worth stating plainly because the 36-point total is often presented as a summary of two whole horoscopes. It is not. The ascendant, the seventh house and its lord, the position of Venus and Jupiter, the dashas the two people are running — none of it enters the score. A pair can reach 32 of 36 on the Moon alone while the rest of both charts says something quite different.
The score is a fast, standardised first filter. Traditional practice treats it as the beginning of the analysis rather than the end of it.
The eight kootas and their weights
| Koota | Points | What it compares |
|---|---|---|
| Varna | 1 | temperament grouping by Moon sign |
| Vashya | 2 | the sign’s classical control grouping |
| Tara | 3 | the nakshatra count between the two |
| Yoni | 4 | the nakshatra’s animal symbol |
| Graha Maitri | 5 | friendship between the two Moon-sign lords |
| Gana | 6 | the nakshatra’s deva / manushya / rakshasa class |
| Bhakoot | 7 | the distance between the two Moon signs |
| Nadi | 8 | the nakshatra’s nadi grouping |
The weights are not evenly spread, and the two heaviest — Bhakoot and Nadi — carry 15 points between them, so a chart pair can fail those two and still be under the conventional 18 even when the other six are perfect. That is the intended behaviour: both are traditionally treated as serious objections in their own right.
What sits outside the score
- Mangal dosha is judged separately, from Mars’s house position, and has its own list of classical cancellations.
- The seventh house and its lord, in both charts, is what the wider tradition actually reads for marriage — along with the D9 Navamsha.
- Regional systems differ. South Indian practice commonly uses ten poruthams rather than the eight kootas, and the two do not agree point-for-point; a chart pair can score well under one and poorly under the other.
None of these overrides the others. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the finding.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good score in Kundli Milan?
The common convention is that 18 of 36 points is the minimum considered acceptable and that 24 or above is a strong match. These are conventional thresholds rather than scriptural ones, and most astrologers treat a score near the boundary as a reason to look closer rather than as a verdict.
What are the eight kootas?
Varna, Vashya, Tara, Yoni, Graha Maitri, Gana, Bhakoot and Nadi. They carry 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 points respectively, which is how the total reaches 36.
Does Ashtakoota use the whole chart?
No, and this is the most important thing to know about it. Every one of the eight kootas is computed from the **Moon's nakshatra and sign** in each chart. The ascendant, the Sun, the other planets and the houses play no part in the score at all.
What is Mangal dosha?
A condition where Mars occupies certain houses counted from the ascendant, the Moon or Venus. It is judged separately from the koota score, and the classical texts list a number of cancellations, which is why a bare "manglik" verdict without them is incomplete.
See this in your own chart
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