Ashtakoota · eight tests, 36 points
Kundli matching
The eight-koota count out of 36, computed from each person's Moon nakshatra and rashi. Every koota is shown with what it compared and what it scored — the total alone hides the part that matters.
03 · The eight kootas
The eight kootas
Every one of the 36 points comes from one of these eight tests, and each is worth a different amount. Almost all of them are computed from the two Moons — their nakshatras and their rashis. That is why matching needs birth dates far more than it needs birth times.
- Varna1 ptThe broad temperament class of the two Moon signs.
- Vashya2 ptWhich of the pair the tradition reads as the influencing one.
- Tara3 ptThe count between the two birth nakshatras, taken both ways.
- Yoni4 ptThe animal symbol of each nakshatra, read for physical compatibility.
- Graha Maitri5 ptWhether the lords of the two Moon signs are friendly.
- Gana6 ptDeva, Manushya or Rakshasa — the disposition each nakshatra carries.
- Bhakoot7 ptThe distance between the two Moon signs. Certain gaps score zero.
- Nadi8 ptThe constitutional group of each nakshatra. Sharing one scores nothing.
What this number is and isn't
Ashtakoota is a traditional scoring convention, not a prediction. We show the arithmetic and let you read it. We will not tell you to call off a marriage over a number, and we do not sell remedies to raise one.
Why two kootas decide so much
Worth knowing before the number lands. Nadi carries 8 of the 36, and it scores zero whenever both partners share a nadi. So a couple can lose almost a quarter of the total on one test. Bhakoot works the same way at 7. That is why two people who match well on six kootas can still come out below 18. And why a low total describes a table, not a relationship.
Ashtakoota is eight tests. Synastry is the whole sky.
Read the same two charts against each other house by house — the aspects, the overlays and the placements a 36-point count never looks at.