The Eight Kootas of Ashtakoot Explained

Ashtakoot means "eight groups", and the name describes the method exactly: two Moon positions are compared in eight separate ways, and each comparison earns a set number of points. Varna is worth 1 point, Vashya 2, Tara 3, Yoni 4, Graha Maitri 5, Gana 6, Bhakoot 7 and Nadi 8, which is where the familiar total of 36 comes from.

This overview explains what each koota compares, which ones can award partial points, and where the tables used on this site differ from other published versions. Each koota also has a longer guide of its own.

Two families of kootas

The eight kootas split neatly into two groups of four, depending on which fact about the Moon they use.

• Sign-based kootas compare the two Moon signs: Varna, Vashya, Graha Maitri and Bhakoot. Between them they carry 15 points.
• Nakshatra-based kootas compare the two birth stars: Tara, Yoni, Gana and Nadi. Between them they carry 21 points.

That split has a practical consequence. The Moon stays in one sign for about two and a quarter days but changes nakshatra roughly once a day, so the 21 nakshatra-based points are the ones most sensitive to an uncertain birth time.

The sign-based kootas

Varna (1 point)

The twelve signs are grouped into four varnas: the water signs as Brahmin, the fire signs as Kshatriya, the earth signs as Vaishya and the air signs as Shudra. The point is awarded when the boy's Moon-sign varna ranks equal to or above the girl's. Despite the vocabulary, this is purely an astrological grouping of signs and has nothing to do with anyone's caste. More in Varna koota: meaning, points and common misunderstandings.

Vashya (2 points)

Vashya sorts the Moon signs into five symbolic kinds of creature: human, four-footed, water-dwelling, wild and insect. Two signs, Sagittarius and Capricorn, are divided at 15° between two groups. Matching kinds score 2, a small set of friendly combinations score 1, and the rest score 0.

Graha Maitri (5 points)

Every sign has a ruling planet: Mars for Aries and Scorpio, Venus for Taurus and Libra, and so on. Graha Maitri asks how the two Moon-sign rulers regard each other under the classical scheme of natural friendship. Mutual friends, or the same ruler, earn all 5 points; mutual enemies earn none.

Bhakoot (7 points)

Bhakoot counts how many signs apart the two Moons are. Some spacings are favourable and earn all 7 points. Three pairs of spacings, 2 and 12, 5 and 9, and 6 and 8, score zero and produce Bhakoot Dosha.

The nakshatra-based kootas

Tara (3 points)

Tara counts from one person's nakshatra to the other's, in both directions, and sorts each count into one of nine taras. Each direction that lands on a favourable tara earns 1.5 points. Our guide to Tara koota and the nine taras shows the counting with real numbers.

Yoni (4 points)

Each nakshatra is linked with an animal, and there are fourteen animals in all. The same animal for both people scores 4, the seven traditional pairs of natural enemies, such as cat and rat, score 0, and every other combination scores 2 on this site.

Gana (6 points)

The nakshatras are divided into three natures: Deva (gentle), Manushya (human, balanced) and Rakshasa (intense). Matching natures, and a Deva with a Manushya, score the full 6 points. Mixed pairs that include a Rakshasa score 1 or 0. Gana koota: Deva, Manushya and Rakshasa sets out every combination.

Nadi (8 points)

The nakshatras also fall into three nadis, called Aadi, Madhya and Antya. If both people belong to the same nadi, the koota scores 0 and the result is called Nadi Dosha; different nadis score the full 8. As the heaviest koota, it is the one families tend to ask about first, and it is covered fully in Nadi koota and Nadi Dosha.

Which scores each koota can produce

Not every koota works on a sliding scale. Some are all or nothing, which is why a single unfavourable result can move the total a long way.

Bhakoot and Nadi between them can remove 15 points in one stroke. A pair who score well everywhere else but fall into both doshas cannot exceed 21, while a pair who lose only Varna and Vashya can still reach 33.

When the boy's and girl's positions are treated differently

Most kootas give the same result whichever person you start from, but a few follow the classical texts in treating the two charts differently.

• Varna asks whether the boy's group is equal to or higher than the girl's, so swapping the two people can change the score.
• Gana gives different points for a Rakshasa boy with a Manushya girl (1 point) than for the reverse (0 points).
• Tara counts in both directions and adds the two halves together.
• Bhakoot counts the distance from the boy's Moon sign to the girl's, though the result is the same either way because the troublesome spacings come in matching pairs.

This is why the form asks which details belong to the boy and which to the girl. The tool does not use gender in any other way.

How these tables compare with other published versions

Ashtakoot has been handed down through many texts and family traditions, and the published tables do not agree on every partial score. This site uses fixed rules and documents where they are simplified:

• Vashya and Yoni use three tiers (full, partial, none) rather than the finer grids with half points or 1-point steps that some almanacs print.
• Tara gives no points for Janma, the first tara, as well as for the third, fifth and seventh. Many classical sources treat only the third, fifth and seventh as unfavourable.
• Gana partial values vary between sources, particularly for combinations involving Rakshasa.

None of these differences affects Nadi or Bhakoot, the two kootas that carry the most weight, but they can move a total by a point or two compared with another calculator.