How our Kundli matching calculation works
Every step from birth details to the score out of 36, with the exact rules the tool applies and a worked example you can check by hand.
Last updated · Reviewed by Match Kundli Editorial Team
Step 1: the birth details
The calculation needs a date, a time and a place for each person; names are optional and only label the report. The time is read as Indian Standard Time (UTC+5:30), whatever the birthplace, so a birth abroad has to be converted to IST first. The place is looked up with OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim service, which returns the latitude and longitude used for the Ascendant. The browser sends the details to our calculation function, which returns planetary positions and keeps nothing.
Step 2: where the Moon and Mars were
The date and time become a moment in universal time, and Swiss Ephemeris is asked for the Moon’s and Mars’s positions in the sidereal zodiac, using the Lahiri ayanamsa (about 24°13′ in 2026). The same library gives the Ascendant for the birthplace. Positions are accurate to a few seconds of arc, while a nakshatra pada is 3°20′ wide, so the astronomy is never the limiting factor. The birth time is: the Moon moves about half a degree an hour, so it changes pada roughly every six hours and nakshatra about once a day. The reasoning is in why birth time and birthplace matter.
Step 3: Moon sign, nakshatra and pada
The Moon’s sidereal longitude is divided into 12 signs of 30°, 27 nakshatras of 13°20′ and 108 padas of 3°20′. The sign decides Varna, Vashya, Graha Maitri and Bhakoot; the nakshatra decides Tara, Yoni, Gana and Nadi. See how the Moon sign and nakshatra are calculated for the arithmetic.
Step 4: the eight kootas
Each koota compares the two Moons with a fixed rule. Varna and Gana treat the two people asymmetrically, as the classical texts do.
| Koota | Max | Rule used here |
|---|---|---|
| Varna | 1 | Water signs rank 4, fire 3, earth 2, air 1. The boy’s rank equal to or above the girl’s scores 1, otherwise 0. |
| Vashya | 2 | Five creature groups; Sagittarius and Capricorn split at 15°. Same group 2, three friendly pairs 1, otherwise 0. |
| Tara | 3 | Count from each nakshatra to the other, reduce each count to one of nine taras, 1.5 for each of Sampat, Kshema, Sadhana, Mitra and Parama Mitra. |
| Yoni | 4 | Same animal 4, one of the seven classical enemy pairs 0, otherwise 2. |
| Graha Maitri | 5 | Natural friendship between the two Moon-sign rulers in both directions: 5, 4, 3, 1, 0.5 or 0. |
| Gana | 6 | Same gana, or Deva with Manushya, 6; Rakshasa boy with Manushya girl 1; other mixed pairs 0. |
| Bhakoot | 7 | Signs 2/12, 5/9 or 6/8 apart score 0 (Bhakoot Dosha); everything else 7. |
| Nadi | 8 | Same nadi 0 (Nadi Dosha), different nadis 8. |
The scores are added to a total out of 36. The tool labels 24 or more a good match, 18 to 23.5 acceptable and below 18 not recommended, and it flags Nadi and Bhakoot Dosha separately because tradition weighs them on their own. The overview of the eight kootas and the single-koota guides set out every table.
Step 5: the Manglik check
Houses are counted one sign each from the Ascendant, so the Ascendant’s sign is the 1st house. A chart is marked Manglik when Mars is in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th or 12th house. Two Manglik charts are described as balancing each other; a one-sided result is flagged for an astrologer’s attention. The guide to Manglik Dosha covers the traditions that count differently.
A worked example
Two fictional people, run through the same engine as the matching tool. The boy was born on 2 September 1993 at 22:05 IST in Bengaluru, the girl on 27 May 1997 at 09:40 IST in Kolkata.
| Boy | Girl | |
|---|---|---|
| Moon | Pisces 3°52′, Uttara Bhadrapada pada 1 | Capricorn 13°43′, Shravana pada 2 |
| Gana, yoni, nadi | Manushya, Cow, Madhya | Deva, Monkey, Antya |
| Ascendant, Mars | Aries; Mars in Virgo (6th house) | Cancer; Mars in Leo (2nd house) |
- Varna, 1: Pisces is a water sign (rank 4) and Capricorn an earth sign (rank 2), so the boy’s rank is higher.
- Vashya, 1: Pisces is Jalachar; Capricorn at 13°43′ is in its first half, so Chatushpad. Water with four-footed is a friendly pair.
- Tara, 1.5: Uttara Bhadrapada (26th) to Shravana (22nd) counts 24, tara 6 (Sadhana), which scores 1.5. Shravana back to Uttara Bhadrapada counts 5, tara 5 (Pratyari), which scores 0.
- Yoni, 2: Cow and Monkey are neither the same nor enemies.
- Graha Maitri, 3: the rulers are Jupiter and Saturn, which are neutral towards each other in both directions.
- Gana, 6: Manushya with Deva.
- Bhakoot, 7: counting forward from Pisces to Capricorn gives 11, which is not one of the 2, 12, 5, 9, 6 or 8 relationships.
- Nadi, 8: Madhya and Antya differ.
The total is 29.5 out of 36, a good match with no Nadi or Bhakoot Dosha. For Manglik, Mars is in the boy’s 6th house, which is not on the list, and in the girl’s 2nd house, which is, so only the girl’s chart is marked Manglik.
Where this differs from other calculators
- Tara gives no points for the first tara (Janma), so two people with the same nakshatra score 0 in Tara here; many sources treat only the third, fifth and seventh taras as unfavourable.
- Vashya and Yoni use three tiers; some almanacs print finer grids with one-point steps.
- Gana partial scores differ by about a point between sources.
- Manglik Dosha is checked from the Ascendant only, not from the Moon or Venus, and the 2nd house is included.
- No cancellation rules are applied. Nadi, Bhakoot and Manglik exceptions are described in the guides but left to an astrologer.
- Every birth time is read as IST, and place names are matched by a free lookup service that can occasionally pick the wrong town.
Check it yourself
If you have a janam patri, compare the Moon sign and nakshatra with the line under each name on the result. A different pada or nakshatra almost always means a different birth time, time zone or ayanamsa. The calendar and horoscope pages use the same engine: the Hindu calendar lists the tithi, nakshatra and yoga for every day, and the horoscope page explains how its readings are built. To try the calculation, open the Kundli matching tool.