Nakshatra Compatibility (Ashtakoota or Guna Milan) is the Vedic marriage compatibility system over 3000 years old, based on the natal Moon position and nakshatra of two people. Eight Kootas (criteria) are scored with points to a maximum of 36: Varna (1 — spiritual style), Vashya (2 — attraction), Tara (3 — health and longevity), Yoni (4 — physical chemistry), Graha Maitri (5 — mental compatibility), Gana (6 — temperament), Bhakoot (7 — emotional harmony) and Nadi (8 — health and progeny). Nadi Dosha (same Nadi — most serious defect) and Bhakoot Dosha are automatically detected. All scores are displayed immediately in the response.
Where it comes from
Ashtakoota, also called Guna Milan, is the marriage compatibility method of Indian astrology and is still used in practice across the subcontinent when matches are being considered. It is set out in the classical texts and rests entirely on the nakshatras of the two people's birth Moons, which is why it can be done from dates alone when charts are not available.
How the method works
Eight criteria are scored, weighted from one point to eight, thirty-six in total. Varna carries one point and compares spiritual disposition; Vashya two, for mutual influence; Tara three, for wellbeing, taken from the count between the two birth stars; Yoni four, for physical compatibility, using the animal assigned to each nakshatra; Graha Maitri five, for friendship between the Moon-sign rulers; Gana six, for temperament, sorting the stars into divine, human and demonic classes; Bhakoot seven, for emotional harmony from the distance between Moon signs; Nadi eight, the heaviest single criterion, for constitutional type. Two doshas override the total. Nadi dosha, where both have the same nadi, is treated as the most serious objection in the system, and Bhakoot dosha arises at certain Moon-sign distances. A high raw score with a dosha present is read as worse than a middling score without one.
What a reading covers
A reading gives both nakshatras, the score on each of the eight kootas with the total out of thirty-six, whether Nadi or Bhakoot dosha is present, and what the tradition reads from that combination.
Common questions
- What counts as a good score?
- Eighteen out of thirty-six is the conventional threshold, with twenty-five and above considered strong. But the doshas are judged separately and can outweigh the number.
- Do we need birth times?
- Only to fix each Moon's nakshatra. The Moon passes through one in about a day, so dates usually suffice unless a birth falls near a boundary.
- Is a low score a reason not to marry?
- It is one traditional opinion about one dimension, and classical practice does not treat it as decisive on its own — the full charts, the seventh houses and the dashas are all considered alongside it.