Vedic Marriage Compatibility Calculator
Eight factors, and the one that actually went wrong.
The traditional 36-point matching system used for marriage in Vedic astrology is known as Guna Milan, or Ashtakoota. It scores eight factors from two birth charts — and Arivyah reports each one separately, applies the classical cancellations, and names the weakest rather than burying it in a total.
What Guna Milan measures
Guna Milan — also called Ashtakoota, meaning eight kootas — is the traditional Vedic method for scoring compatibility between two charts. Eight factors are compared and weighted, and the weights add to 36.
Most of it runs off the two Moons' nakshatras rather than Sun signs, which is why it needs much less precision than most astrological calculations: the Moon crosses a full nakshatra in about a day. The weights are deliberately uneven — Nadi carries 8 points, Bhakoot 7, Gana 6, and Varna just 1.
Conventionally 18 out of 36 is treated as workable. But the total is the least informative number on the page: 20 points made up of a strong Nadi and a weak Varna is a completely different match from 20 made the other way round, and reporting only the sum tells you nothing you could act on.
Calculate Guna Milan (36-point Ashtakoota)
Eight kootas scored out of 36, from both people's Moon nakshatras. Both sets of birth details are needed; nothing is saved.
What it is called
Vedic astrology reached the English-speaking world through several routes, so most concepts here carry a Sanskrit name and one or two translations. They are the same thing.
- Guna Milanalso called Ashtakoota, 36 guna matching, kundli milan
- The eight-factor compatibility score out of 36, computed mostly from the two Moons' nakshatras. Ashtakoota names the method; Guna Milan names the result.
- Kootaalso called kuta, factor
- One of the eight compared factors. Each has its own weight, and the weights sum to 36 rather than being equal.
- Bhakootalso called Rashi koota
- The sign-distance between the two Moons, weighted 7. Certain distances score zero — Bhakoot dosha — and it has recognised cancellations.
- Nadialso called constitutional type
- Vata, pitta or kapha, from the nakshatra. Weighted 8, the heaviest single koota, and zero when both share a Nadi unless cancelled.
The eight kootas and what each is weighted
The 36 points are not evenly divided. The weights are traditional and they tell you what the system considers important — three kootas carry two thirds of the total between them.
- chevron_rightVarna — 1 point — a fourfold classification from the Moon sign, read for ego and spiritual orientation. The smallest weight in the system.
- chevron_rightVashya — 2 points — a grouping by sign type, read for mutual influence — which partner tends to lead and whether that is mutual.
- chevron_rightTara — 3 points — counted between the two nakshatras, read for health and general fortune between the pair.
- chevron_rightYoni — 4 points — the animal symbol of each nakshatra, read for instinctive and physical compatibility.
- chevron_rightGraha Maitri — 5 points — friendship between the two Moon-sign lords, read for mental affinity and shared outlook.
- chevron_rightGana — 6 points — deva, manushya or rakshasa temperament from the nakshatra, read for compatibility of disposition.
- chevron_rightBhakoot — 7 points — the sign-distance between the two Moons, read for the overall trajectory of the relationship. Certain distances score zero.
- chevron_rightNadi — 8 points — constitutional type from the nakshatra. The heaviest weight, and zero if both share a Nadi unless a cancellation applies.
Why the total is the least useful number on the page
Two couples can both score 20 out of 36 and have almost nothing in common in what the score is describing.
Suppose one pair loses points on Varna and Vashya — the two smallest kootas, three points between them — and scores full marks on Nadi, Bhakoot and Gana. Another pair scores every small koota perfectly and loses Nadi entirely. Both land near 20. The first is a match with a friction over standing and influence; the second is a match the tradition considers structurally difficult in the factor it weights most heavily. Reporting 20 for both tells you nothing you could act on.
This is why Arivyah computes the eight kootas separately, states what each one measured, names the weakest rather than averaging it away, and then translates the pattern into life areas — communication, temperament, physical rapport, long-term trajectory. The number is the summary; the breakdown is the reading.
What Guna Milan does not look at
Guna Milan is a Moon-to-Moon comparison. That is its strength — it needs very little data and works without precise birth times — and it is also its limit, and the limit is rarely stated.
Outside the eight kootas entirely: the 7th house and its lord in either chart, the position and condition of Venus and Mars, the Navamsa chart that tradition reads specifically for marriage, the dasha periods each person is currently running, and any dosha in either chart. Manglik is checked separately precisely because Guna Milan does not see it.
So a high score is not a clearance and a low one is not a verdict. Arivyah runs the kootas, runs the dosha checks alongside, and presents both — and does not produce a recommendation about whether two people should marry, because that is not a calculation and not something software is entitled to say.
Where to go next
Each of these reads a different part of the same birth data, so once one is computed the rest need nothing more from you.
Run the full compatibility reading
The eight kootas plus dosha checks and a life-area breakdown, from two birth charts.
Check Manglik on both charts
Guna Milan cannot see Mangal Dosha — it is checked separately, with cancellations.
Find your nakshatra first
Five of the eight kootas are computed from it — gana, yoni, nadi, tara and bhakoot.
Compare two people without birth times
No marriage score, no birth time needed. For friends, siblings and colleagues.
View the Navamsa D9 chart
The divisional chart tradition reads for marriage, which Guna Milan leaves out.
Calculate your Moon sign
Varna, Vashya, Graha Maitri and Bhakoot are all read from it.
Questions
What is Guna Milan?add
The traditional Vedic method for scoring compatibility between two birth charts, mainly for marriage. Eight factors — the kootas — are each scored, and the weights add to 36. It is also called Ashtakoota, which just means 'eight kootas'. Most of it is computed from the two Moons' nakshatras rather than from Sun signs.
What score is considered acceptable?add
Conventionally 18 out of 36 or above is treated as workable, with the mid-20s regarded as good and above 30 as rare. But the total on its own is a poor summary: 18 made up of a strong Nadi and a weak Varna is a very different match from 18 made the other way round. Arivyah reports every koota separately for exactly that reason, and names the weakest rather than burying it in the total.
Why does Nadi carry so many points?add
Nadi is weighted 8 of the 36 — more than any other koota — and it is the one most often treated as decisive. It maps each nakshatra to one of three constitutional types borrowed from Ayurveda, and a same-Nadi match traditionally scores zero. There are recognised cancellations, though, and Arivyah applies them rather than reporting a zero and leaving it there.
Can a low score be cancelled or corrected?add
Several kootas have classical exceptions. Bhakoot dosha is considered cancelled when the two Moon-sign lords are the same or friendly, and Nadi dosha is cancelled in several cases including when both partners share a nakshatra but differ in pada. Arivyah computes both a raw total and an adjusted total with cancellations applied, and shows both, because hiding the raw figure and hiding the adjustment are equally misleading.
Is Guna Milan enough on its own?add
No, and traditional practice does not treat it as sufficient either. It reads two Moons against each other and ignores most of both charts — the 7th house, Venus, Mars, the Navamsa, and the dasha periods both people are in are all outside it. Manglik is checked separately for the same reason. A 32 out of 36 between two charts with difficult 7th houses is not the reassurance the number looks like.
Do we both need exact birth times?add
For Guna Milan itself, less than you would expect: it runs off the Moon's nakshatra, and the Moon crosses a full nakshatra in about a day. A rough time is usually enough, though a pada boundary needs about six hours of accuracy. Manglik checking does need accurate times, because houses rotate a full circle daily. If you do not have birth times at all, the compatibility page without a marriage score is the honest option.
How this is calculated
The arithmetic, and where it stops
Both charts are computed from Swiss Ephemeris data with the Lahiri ayanamsa. Each Moon's sidereal longitude gives a nakshatra, a pada and a sign, and the eight kootas are then scored from those figures using classical tables. Half points occur in Tara and Graha Maitri, which is why a total can read as 20.5 rather than a whole number.
Cancellations are computed rather than assumed: Bhakoot dosha is cancelled where the Moon-sign lords are identical or friendly, and Nadi dosha where the recognised exceptions apply. Both the raw total and the adjusted total are reported, because showing only one of them misrepresents the result in one direction or the other.
The kootas are arithmetic on measured positions. What a koota score means for two people living together is classical interpretation, presented as tradition. Arivyah does not claim predictive validity for the score and does not issue a recommendation about the relationship.
Positions are astronomy and can be checked against any ephemeris. What a position is said to mean is astrological interpretation, and this site presents it as tradition rather than as established fact. How every chart here is calculated.
See all eight kootas, not just the total
Every koota scored and explained, cancellations applied, Manglik checked separately, and the result translated into life areas rather than a number.