Guna Milan: the eight Kootas, one by one

Varna — 1 point

Sorts each moon sign into one of four traditional groups and awards the point when the groom’s group is equal to or higher than the bride’s. It carries the smallest weight of the eight and moves a total by almost nothing. It is a classification of moon signs, not a statement about anyone’s family or background.

Vashya — 2 points

Groups the twelve signs into five categories and reads mutual influence from how those categories relate. Partial scores are common here. This is one of the tables where classical and common practice differ, since two signs are split in the original text and treated whole in most modern software.

Tara — 3 points

Counts the distance between the two birth stars in both directions and divides each count by nine. Certain remainders are treated as inauspicious. Because each direction is judged separately, a score of 1.5 is normal and correct rather than a rounding artefact.

Yoni — 4 points

Assigns each of the 27 birth stars an animal symbol and reads instinctive compatibility from a table of how those animals relate. Identical symbols score the full four; a handful of pairs are treated as strongly opposed and score zero.

Graha Maitri — 5 points

Compares the planets that rule the two moon signs, using the traditional table of planetary friendship. Mutual friends score five, mutual enemies zero, and the various mixed cases fall in between.

Gana — 6 points

Sorts the birth stars into three dispositions — Deva, Manushya and Rakshasa — nine stars each. Matching dispositions score the full six. This table is deliberately asymmetric: the score depends on which partner holds which disposition, not merely on the pair.

Bhakoot — 7 points

Measures the angular relationship between the two moon signs. Three specific relationships — two-twelve, five-nine and six-eight — score zero, and everything else scores the full seven. There is no middle. This single Koota accounts for most sudden drops in a total.

Nadi — 8 points

The heaviest of the eight. The 27 birth stars are divided into three Nadi groups of nine. Different groups score the full eight; the same group scores zero, which is the condition called Nadi Dosha. On its own it removes almost a quarter of the possible total.

What Kundli matching cannot tell you

It cannot tell you whether a marriage will work. No study has shown a relationship between Guna scores and marital outcomes, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.

It cannot tell you anything about a person’s character, conduct, honesty or intentions. A birth chart is calculated from a date, a time and a place; it contains no information about how someone has behaved.

It cannot verify that a person is who they say they are. That is a separate question with separate evidence, and it is the one VerifyShaadi was built to answer.