July 26th, 2005
Chart Matching Fundamentals
After going through this article, please go through the kundali matching (guna milap) web page. You may want to keep this article open when you are trying out the page at chart-match.html.
Updated: Readers are also advised to take a look at another article: Clarifications on Manglik Dosha.
A lot of marriages in Hindu Culture consider horoscope compatibility matching, i.e. Guna Milap as the first step. The horoscopes are matched on the basis of health, wealth, longevity, well being of children etc. In Vedic Astrology, marital life is said to be affected by the following parameters:
- 7th house and its lord,
- Planets having drishti on the lord of the 7th house,
- Planets located in the the 7th house,
- Venus for males, because it represents wife and
- Jupiter for females because it represents husband.
Matching these parameters is a job of an experienced astrologer.
Kuta Point System for Guna Milap: Apart from the parameters mentioned above, the horoscope compatibility is judged by points, known as kuta. These points are calculated by taking into account the position of Moon in both the charts. Moon in a person’s chart represents the emotional aspect, his/her personality and capacity to care about other people.
Nakshatras: Moon moves around the Earth in little over 27 days. The whole path of the moon is divided into 27 parts, each of which is represented by a constellation. These constellations are known as Nakshatras (you can call them Lunar Constellation, if you must need an english term for them) and the moon “resides” in each nakshatra for approximately a day. As these nakshatras are associated with the moon, they are usually a better indicator of a person’s emotional capacity. The following is a table of 27 nakshatras along with their rulers. The last column indicates the ruler of the nakshatra.
| Nakshatra | Nakshatra | Nakshatra | Ruler |
| 1. Aswini | 10. Magha | 19. Moola | Ketu |
| 2. Bharani | 11. Purva Falguni | 20. Purva Ashadha | Venus |
| 3. Kritika | 12. Uttara Falguni | 21. Uttara Ashadha | Sun |
| 4. Rohini | 13. Hasta | 22. Shravana | Moon |
| 5. Mrigshira | 14. Chitta | 23. Dhanishtha | Mars |
| 6. Adra | 15. Swati | 24.Shatabhisha | Rahu |
| 7. Punarvasu | 16. Vishakha | 25. Purva Bhadprada | Jupiter |
| 8. Pushya | 17. Anuradha | 26. Uttara Bhadprada | Saturn |
| 9. Ashlesha | 18. Jyestha | 27. Revati | Mercury |
Factors: The factors which are important for horoscope compatibility analysis, i.e. Guna Milap or Kundali Milan are derived from these 27 nakshatras. Based on the position of the moon in a nakshatra, the following factors are assigned to a chart.
- Varna, literally means caste. There are four varnas, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra, in that order. This factor contributes one point to the overall match. To match, the groom should have a higher varna than the bride.
- Vashya, literally means control. This factor shows who among the bride and the groom will have more control, in other words, who would be more dominating. This factor contributes a maximum of two points to the chart. Two points are allotted if the bride and the groom belong to the same vashya. The vashyas are simple to calculate and correspond to the whole rashi.
- Chatushpad (having four feet) - Aries, Taurus, and Sagittarius (second half).
- Manav (human) - Gemini, Virgo, Libra, Sagittarius (first half) and Aquarius.
- Jalchar (living in water) - Cancer, Capricorn and Pisces.
- Vanchar (living in the forest) - Leo
- Keet (worm) - Scorpio
- Tara is an indicator of a relationship between the nakshatras of the bride and the groom. The maximum number of points that can be obtained with this match is 3.
- Yoni is an indicator of attraction between husband and wife. This factor contributes a maximum of 4 points to the overall compatibility, with 4 points being awarded if the bride and groom have the same yoni. The yonis are represented by names of 14 animals.
- Graha Maitri is an indicator of friendship between the rashi lords of bride and groom. The two rashi lords can be friends, enemies or neutral to each other. However, the friendship is not commutative (I hope I am using the correct term here) i.e. If A is a friend of B, then B need not be a friend of A. This factor contributes a maximum of 5 points to the overall compatibility.
- Gana is an indicator of three basic qualities of nature (sattva, rajas and tamas) and are represented by Deva (God), Manav (Human) and Rakshasa (Demon). This factor contributes up to 6 points towards the match and is considered good if the bride is of higher gana than the groom.
- Bhakoota is an indicator of relative position of moon within the main zodiac. If the signs are located 2nd/12th, 5th/9th and 6th/8th from each other, the points allotted is zero otherwise its 7.
- Nadi literally means pulse. According the nakshatra, there are three kinds of nadis: Adi (beginning), Madhya (middle) and Antya (end). The husband and wife should have different nadis to get 8 points towards overall horoscope compatibility.
These points are added up to a maximum of 36 points. If the sum of the compatibility points is less than 18, marriage is not advisable. These points can also be calculated from the nakshatras of the bride and the groom directly.
Updated on April 04, 2006 after reading some of the comments.
Nadi Dosha: If there is nadi dosha in the chart, i.e. if the nadis of would be bride and groom are the same, there are two exceptions that exist:
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If the same planet is the lord of Rashis of would be bride and groom.
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If the lord of rashis of bride and groom are friends.
In only these two scenarios, Nadi dosha is said to be cancelled.
