How kundali matching works

Kundali matching compares the girl's and the boy's birth charts before marriage. Eight checks, called kootas, give up to 36 points (gunas), and 18 or more is the traditional pass. Manglik dosha is checked separately, and it can outweigh a good score.

Kundali milan, gun milan and ashtakoot milan are all names for the same check. Below is where the gunas and Manglik come from, and how to read the answer the Gun Milan app gives.

The gunas come from the two Moons

All eight kootas look at one thing in each kundali: where the Moon was at the moment of birth. That is its rashi (the Moon sign, one of twelve) and its nakshatra (the birth star, one of twenty-seven). Nothing else in the chart changes the gunas.

The Moon moves slowly - about one nakshatra a day - so a birth time that is roughly right usually gives the right gunas. Only a Moon near the edge of a nakshatra or rashi is sensitive to the time.

Manglik dosha comes from the Lagna

The Lagna (ascendant) is the sign rising in the east at the moment of birth. It moves fast - through a whole sign in about two hours - so it needs the exact birth time. A person is Manglik when Mars sits in house 1, 4, 7, 8 or 12, counted from the Lagna. This is the North Indian way, and the Gun Milan app follows it.

Classical rules can soften the dosha - for example when Jupiter aspects Mars - and the person is then Aanshik (partly) Manglik. Two Manglik people suit each other. A Manglik with a non-Manglik is the pairing most families will not accept.

Because a guessed time gives a confident Manglik answer with nothing behind it, the Gun Milan app always asks for the birth time and never fills one in.

The eight kootas

In the order they are counted. Each stands for one side of married life, and each has its own page.

Total36 gunas

A zero in one koota is common and does not by itself sink a match.

Reading the Gun Milan app's result

The Gun Milan app reads the score and Manglik dosha together and gives one of four answers, each in its colour:

• Green - "Good match". 18 or more, and Manglik suits. If a Nadi or Gana dosha stands, or one is Aanshik and the other Manglik, a one-line note says so. Nadi is held mainly by Brahmin families and Gana by Vaishya ones, so it is your family's call.
• Amber - "Ask your pandit ji". 18 or more, but one of them is Aanshik Manglik and the other is not Manglik. Some families accept this and some do not.
• Red - "Manglik mismatch" or "Low guna score". One of them Manglik and the other not, or under 18 gunas. Most families would not go ahead.

The Gun Milan app gives you the facts quickly. Your family pandit ji knows your tradition and has the final word.

More from this guide

• How many gunas should match?The 18-guna mark, what a total means, and the four answers the Gun Milan app gives
• Manglik doshaWhat being Manglik means, and which pairings suit
• The 27 nakshatrasThe nature and story of the people of each birth star, and the partner they suit
• The 12 rashisWhat the people of each Moon sign are like, at home and in marriage
• Kundali matching from a biodataUpload a PDF or photo, and the Gun Milan app reads the details itself