How Ashtakoota matching works — and what it isn't

When South Indian families consider a match, one of the oldest tools they reach for is guna milan — the Ashtakoota, an eight-fold comparison of the two people's Moon positions, scored out of thirty-six.

The eight kootas

• ◆Varna (1) — spiritual temperament.
• ◆Vashya (2) — mutual influence and attraction.
• ◆Tara (3) — health and well-being of the union.
• ◆Yoni (4) — instinctive compatibility.
• ◆Graha Maitri (5) — friendship of the ruling planets; mental affinity.
• ◆Gana (6) — temperament: deva, manushya, or rakshasa.
• ◆Bhakoota (7) — emotional and family harmony.
• ◆Nadi (8) — health and progeny; the most weighted.

Reading the score kindly

A high total is encouraging, but a single koota scoring zero is not a catastrophe. Traditionally such points are simply reviewed — often cancelled by other factors in the charts, and always weighed against the couple's own understanding, their values, and the counsel of a knowledgeable astrologer.

That is why Sannidhana shows the numbers plainly and frames every point of caution the way a trusted family astrologer would: as something to understand, never to fear. The match is a beginning of the conversation, not the end of it.