Nadi dosha and Bhakoot dosha in kundali matching

Kundali matching compares two birth charts, mainly the two Moons: their signs (rashis) and nakshatras, the 27 lunar mansions.

Muhurta Chintamani (Rama Daivajna, in VedicPupil's English rendering) lists eight matching factors, called kutas, that 'carry points increasing one by one'. Varna (class) gets 1 point, vashya (control) 2, tara (star) 3, yoni (animal type) 4, graha maitri (planetary friendship) 5, gana (group) 6, bhakoot (sign pairing) 7 and nadi 8. Together they add up to 36.

The table above shows each kuta and what it compares. Four of them (varna, vashya, bhakoot and graha maitri) look at the moon signs and the planets that rule them. The other four (tara, yoni, gana and nadi) look at the birth nakshatras.

To use the table, find each person's moon sign and nakshatra, then check the relevant row. The two heaviest rows, nadi and bhakoot, are where the two doshas below come from.

Counting from one moon sign to the other gives a number, and counting back the other way gives a second number. Muhurta Chintamani 6.31 names three pairs as bhakoot dosha: 6th-8th, 5th-9th and 2nd-12th.

All other sign relations are described as favourable. The verse attaches results to these pairs; this page does not repeat them.

The text itself allows exceptions. A bhakoot dosha is accepted when both moon signs share one lord, or when the sign lords are friends, provided nadi and nakshatra checks are clean.

The verse says 'planetary friendship also removes a bad Bhakuta', and that enmity between the lords spoils an otherwise good pairing.

So the same sign pair is read differently depending on who rules the two signs. That is why the sign-lords row appears in the worked example below.

Each of the 27 nakshatras belongs to one of three nadis, called first, middle and last. The table above lists them. Find your nakshatra, then your partner's, and see whether the rows match.

If both nakshatras sit in the same group, that is nadi dosha. Muhurta Chintamani 6.34 says marrying within one nadi 'is not good' and treats the middle nadi most strictly. The verse attaches its own results; this page does not repeat them.

The same text gives exceptions in verse 6.36: 'If, the rashi of the two being one, the asterism is different, and likewise, the asterism being one, the rashi is a pair [different signs], there is no nadi dosha.' The same nakshatra with a different pada (quarter) is called auspicious.

In plain terms: sharing a moon sign but not a nakshatra, or sharing a nakshatra but not a moon sign, lifts the dosha. Even a shared nakshatra can pass if the pada differs.

This is an illustration, not a real person's chart. The table above shows three checks.

First, the sign relation. Counting from Taurus, Aquarius is the 10th sign; counting from Aquarius, Taurus is the 4th. That makes a 4-10 pair, which is not one of the three bhakoot dosha pairings.

Second, nadi. Mrigashira sits in the middle nadi and Shatabhisha in the first. The two nakshatras are in different groups, so there is no nadi dosha.

Third, the sign lords.

Taurus is ruled by Venus and Aquarius by Saturn, and P.V.R. Narasimha Rao (PVR), author of Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach, lists them as natural friends in Table 7.

Under the exception quoted above, friendly lords would remove a bhakoot dosha even if one had been present.

Muhurta Chintamani's eight kutas add to 36 points. B.V. Raman's Muhurtha instead uses twelve factors (Dina, Gana, Mahendra, Stree-Deergha, Yoni, Rasi, Rasyadhipathi, Vasya, Rajju, Vedha, Varna, Nadi), the system used in South India.

He calls Graha Maitram (Rasyadhipathi), the planetary friendship check, 'the most important Kuta' because it 'deals with the psychological dispositions of the Couple'.

On nadi, Raman names the three groups Vatha (wind), Pitha (bile) and Sleshma (phlegm), the three humours of Hindu medical works. His table groups the nakshatras the same way as Muhurta Chintamani.

He calls nadi 'the most important and at the same time the most significant Kuta' and gives it 8 units.

His exceptions are similar: the dosha 'can be ignored' if Rasi and Rajju kuta prevail, if the same planet rules both moon signs, or if the sign lords are friends. He adds that if nadi is absent by nakshatra it may be reckoned by nakshatra padas.

The sign-pairing check differs more. Raman's Rasi kuta (7 units) depends on direction: the boy's sign 2nd from the girl's is unfavourable, but the girl's sign 2nd from the boy's is favourable. Muhurta Chintamani 6.31 names the pairs without direction.

His exception is the familiar one: 'When both the Rasis are owned by one planet or if the lords of the two Rasis happen to be friends, the evil... gets cancelled.'

So the same chart can score differently depending on which system a family follows. Neither is picked as the winner here.

In the marriage chapter of Muhurtha, B.V. Raman writes: 'The kutas or the units of agreement should be considered only when there is general sympathy between the horoscopes of the parties to be brought together.' He calls the practice of rejecting horoscopes only because certain kutas do not agree 'highly defective'.

In other words, the kuta table is a late check, not the first one, and it is not meant to stand alone. A low score in one factor is read alongside everything else in both charts.

Skybond does not compute kundali matching scores. Skybond's chart engine does not compute or label doshas, and Skybond does not sell remedies, gemstones or rituals. Learn pages make no predictions about you and give no remedies.

If a matching conversation comes up, the useful question is not 'what is the score?' but 'which system is being used, and which exceptions apply?'