Can kundli matching be done by name alone?

Name based matching guesses the Moon nakshatra from the first syllable of the name, a fallback from times when birth records were rare. It changes the result whenever the name does not follow the birth star. If a birth date, time, and place exist, match with those.

What happens if both partners have the same nadi?

Same nadi scores zero of eight points and is called Nadi dosha, traditionally linked to health of the couple and children. Classical texts also list exceptions, for instance when both partners share a rashi with different nakshatras. It is a flag for careful review, not an automatic refusal.

Is a 36 out of 36 match ideal?

A perfect score is extremely rare and not by itself a guarantee. The gunas compare Moon positions. A full reading also weighs Mars placement, the seventh houses, Venus and Jupiter, and the dashas both charts are running.

Kundli Milan

How kundli matching works and what 36 gunas really measure

Q: How many gunas should match for marriage?

Tradition asks for at least 18 of 36. Between 18 and 24 is workable, 25 to 32 is considered strong, and above 32 is rare. A high score with Nadi dosha or a broken Bhakoot still needs a careful look, and a moderate score with both intact can be perfectly sound.

Every family knows the number. Fewer know what the number is made of, why two of the eight tests dominate it, and what it quietly leaves out.

Graha Darpan·9 July 2026·Positions computed with the Swiss Ephemeris

The short answer

Kundli matching, also called gun milan or Ashtakoota, compares the Moon positions of two birth charts across eight tests worth 36 points in total. Tradition asks for at least 18. Nadi carries 8 points and Bhakoot 7, so these two alone can make or break a match. The score is a screen, not a verdict, and a full milan also checks Mangal dosha and the strength of each seventh house.

What milan actually compares

Ashtakoota works almost entirely from each person's Moon, its rashi and its nakshatra. The Moon stands for the mind in Jyotiṣa, so the eight kutas are eight angles on one question. Will these two minds live well together? Physical detail, wealth, and career sit elsewhere in the chart and are judged separately.

The eight kutas and their points

Points per kuta. The last two, Bhakoot and Nadi, carry 15 of the 36 between them.

Varna, 1 point. Temperamental class of each Moon sign. A courtesy test more than a decisive one.
Vashya, 2 points. Mutual influence and pull between the signs.
Tara, 3 points. Counts nakshatras between the two birth stars to judge shared fortune.
Yoni, 4 points. Instinctive and physical compatibility, read from nakshatra animal pairs.
Graha Maitri, 5 points. Friendship between the lords of the two Moon signs, the everyday texture of conversation.
Gana, 6 points. Deva, manushya, or rakshasa temperament groups. Mismatches here read as clashing instincts.
Bhakoot, 7 points. The distance between the two Moon signs. Certain pairs, like the second and twelfth or the sixth and eighth, score zero and are treated as a dosha of their own.
Nadi, 8 points. The heaviest test. Each nakshatra belongs to one of three nadis, and a shared nadi scores nothing. Tradition ties it to the health of the couple and of children.

Nadi and Bhakoot, the two that veto

Arithmetic explains most refusals. A match can take all 21 points from the first six kutas, lose Nadi and Bhakoot, and land on 21 of 36. The same match with those two intact but a weak Gana score lands higher. When an elder says the score was good but the match was refused anyway, one of these two is almost always the reason. Both doshas also carry classical exceptions, and an honest matcher checks the exceptions before pronouncing.

When 18 is enough and 30 can still fail

The gunas compare two Moons. They do not see Mars sitting in the seventh house of one chart, a debilitated Venus, or a Saturn dasha arriving in the wedding year. So a 19 with clean doshas, compatible Mars placements, and healthy seventh houses can outlast a 30 that hides all three problems. Treat the score the way a doctor treats a blood test. Useful, numeric, and never the whole diagnosis.

What a full milan adds beyond the score

Mangal dosha on both sides, with its cancellations. Two manglik charts neutralise each other.
Papa samya, a weighing of the harsh planets in each chart so one does not overpower the other.
The seventh houses and their lords, the marriage houses proper.
The dashas each person is running, which time the marriage rather than describe it.

Graha Darpan's Kundli Milan computes all of this from full charts, shows the guna table point by point, and lets you ask the Jyotishi why a score is what it is. Nothing hides behind a single number.

Common questions

How many gunas should match for marriage?

At least 18 by tradition. 25 and above is strong. Below 18, or any score with Nadi dosha, calls for a full-chart look rather than a flat refusal.

Can matching be done by name alone?

Only as a guess. Name matching infers the birth star from the name's first syllable, which fails whenever the name was not chosen by nakshatra. Use the birth details when they exist.

Both of us have the same nadi. Is that the end?

Not automatically. The classics list exceptions, including same rashi with different nakshatras. Have the exception checked before you decide anything.

Is 36 of 36 the perfect match?

It is rare and it is still only the Moon test. The rest of both charts has to agree with it.