Pillar article
Marriage Compatibility and the Zodiac Sign
Two people can share a solar rashi and still sit in different nadis. Matching starts from the birth nakshatra of the Moon.
The Moon's nakshatra, not the birthday sign
Marriage compatibility based on a zodiac sign usually means the Sun sign, and that is the wrong star. Guna milan scores the Moon's nakshatra. The eight kootas are Varna, Vashya, Tara, Yoni, Graha Maitri, Gana, Bhakoot, and Nadi, worth 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 points, for 36 in all. Nadi, the heaviest, compares Adi, Madhya, and Antya. Two people with the Sun in Mesha can carry Moons in different rashis and the same nadi, or the opposite. Their solar label never enters the arithmetic. A match that begins with 'both are Leos' has not started.
The 7th house in both charts
After the kootas, each chart still has a 7th house, a 7th lord, and Venus or Jupiter as spouse karaka. Venus is the wife karaka in a man's chart. Jupiter is the husband karaka in a woman's chart. The 7th house is used for both. A high guna score beside a broken 7th lord, or a 7th lord in the 6th, 8th, or 12th with no support, is not a finished yes. D9, the Navamsa, is where the spouse promise is checked again. If the 7th lord is strong in the rashi and fallen in the Navamsa, the kuta total has not seen that split.
What a customary cutoff does not mean
Many families treat 18 points out of 36 as a minimum before they continue, and they treat same-nadi as a serious fault even when the other points look fine. That cutoff is a custom of matching, not a rate of happy marriages, and it is not a law of physics. Exceptions for nadi are argued when other conditions hold, and those exceptions belong in the two full charts, not in a slogan. Bhakoot dosha is the 6/8 and 2/12 relationship of the Moon signs. Opposite Moon signs, a 1/7 pair, are not that dosha. Calling every opposite pair incompatible mixes two different rules.
Frequently asked questions
Do sun signs have a compatibility table in Jyotish?
The classical table is the eight kootas of the Moon's nakshatra. The Sun's rashi is not one of those eight. It can still be read as a graha in each chart, separately.
Is 36 out of 36 required?
No. Eighteen out of thirty-six is a widely used customary minimum. Nadi dosha can still stop a match that has cleared that number, and a strong 7th house can outrank a pretty total.
Where does D9 enter the match?
Navamsa shows the 7th lord and the spouse karaka after the birth chart. Two charts are not matched on guna points alone when D9 tells a harsher or a kinder story.
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D1, D9, D10, dashas, yogas, and transits, the same calculations referenced in this article.