Kundli matching, also called guna milan or Ashtakoot, compares two people's birth charts and turns the result into a score out of 36. The score is built almost entirely from one thing: where the Moon was at each person's birth. This guide explains how that number is made, how to read it, and what it cannot tell you.
What goes in
The method needs three details per person: date of birth, time of birth and place of birth. From these we compute the position of the Moon against the fixed stars (the sidereal zodiac, using the Lahiri ayanamsa, which is the standard in India).
Two things come out of that position:
- The rashi, or Moon sign. The Moon spends about two and a quarter days in each of the 12 signs.
- The nakshatra, or birth star. The sky is cut into 27 nakshatras, each 13 degrees 20 minutes wide, and each split into four padas (quarters).
Birth time matters because the Moon moves roughly 13 degrees a day. A few hours can push it into the next nakshatra, which changes several koota scores at once. If you do not know the time, see how to find your birth time, or use matching without a birth time, which tells you which results are certain and which could shift.
The eight kootas
Each koota compares one quality of the two Moon positions and awards up to a fixed number of points. The maximum points add up to 36.
| Koota | Points | What it looks at | |---|---|---| | Varna | 1 | Temperament and ego | | Vashya | 2 | Who leads, mutual influence | | Tara | 3 | Birth star compatibility | | Yoni | 4 | Physical and instinctive fit | | Graha Maitri | 5 | Mental wavelength | | Gana | 6 | Basic nature: divine, human or fierce | | Bhakoot | 7 | Emotional bond, family and prosperity | | Nadi | 8 | Health and constitution |
The points rise with the weight the tradition gives each factor, so Nadi and Bhakoot together are 15 of the 36. The full detail is in the eight kootas explained.
Boy and girl are not symmetrical
Several tables are lookup grids where the boy's value picks the row and the girl's picks the column. Varna, Vashya, Yoni and Gana give different points if you swap the two people. This is part of the classical method, not a bug. Tara is counted both ways, from the boy's star to the girl's and back, and each direction scores 0, 1.5 or 3 points on the same 3-point scale. That is why Tara can come out as 1.5.
We label the two cards Boy and Girl because the tables are written that way. If you are matching two people of the same gender, pick either order and read the result as a guide.
Reading the total
- Below 18: under the traditional minimum. Read what to do with a low guna score before drawing conclusions.
- 18 to 23: meets the minimum. Fine on paper, so the dosha lines matter more than the total.
- 24 to 31: good. Most families treat this as a comfortable match.
- 32 and above: very good. Scores of 36 are rare because they need near-perfect agreement on every table.
Our own readings of single scores are on pages such as 18 out of 36 and 24 out of 36.
Why the dosha lines carry more weight than the total
Three koota results get a separate look because they score zero for specific patterns:
- Nadi dosha: both people share the same Nadi. Costs the full 8 points.
- Bhakoot dosha: the two Moon signs sit in an unfavourable relationship (2-12, 6-8 or 5-9 apart). Costs the full 7 points.
- Gana dosha: a mismatch in Gana, for example a divine-nature and a fierce-nature pairing.
A couple can score 26 and still carry Nadi dosha, because the missing 8 points hide behind a decent total. Equally, many of these doshas have named cancellation rules. When both people's Moons sit in the same sign but different nakshatras, for instance, the Nadi penalty is traditionally set aside. Our result shows each rule that applied, in plain words, so you can see why a dosha was or was not counted. Manglik, the Mars placement check, is separate from the 36 points and needs a birth time.
What the score does not do
The score compares two Moon positions. It does not read the rest of either chart, and it says nothing about shared values, money, family, health histories or how the two of you handle disagreement. Whether it should carry weight in your decision is a personal call, and how accurate kundli matching is is a fair question to ask before leaning on it.
Sites also differ. The same couple can get different totals from two calculators because of ayanamsa choice, tables for Tara or Varna, or a different rule for counting an unknown time. We use the classical tables and show every number, so you can check the working.
Try it
Enter Boy and Girl details on the matching form. It shows the score first, then the koota list, dosha lines with the rule that applied, and questions you can take to a pandit if you want a second opinion. Birth details are never kept on our servers.