Kundli matching in 2026: what guna milan checks, what it can't tell you, and what predicts a good marriage

In many Indian families, a proposal doesn't go far until someone has compared the two horoscopes. In the north it's called kundli matching or guna milan. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, families talk about jathakam and porutham. For a lot of parents it's a step as natural as asking about the other family, and for some it's a deeply held part of faith.

This guide explains, plainly, what kundli matching checks and how families use it. It then looks at what decades of research on real couples say predicts a happy, lasting marriage, and how to handle the moment when a score comes back low. It isn't here to tell you what to believe. It's here so you can make a decision with the full picture, and if the two of you have already decided to skip matching, that's a choice many couples make, and nothing in law requires it.

What kundli matching is

A kundli (also called a janam kundli, jathakam or horoscope) is a chart of the positions of the Moon, Sun and planets at the moment and place a person was born. Kundli matching compares two people's charts to judge whether they are suited to marry. The most common method across India is Ashtakoota, “eight factors”, which gives a couple a score out of 36. That score is what people mean when they ask how many gunas matched.

Most of the Ashtakoota factors are based on the Moon sign (rashi) and the birth star (nakshatra) of each person. Many astrologers also look beyond the score at other parts of the chart, such as the seventh house, the navamsa chart and Mangal dosha, before giving an opinion.

The 8 kootas of guna milan, and their points

Each koota carries a maximum number of points, from 1 to 8. Together they add up to 36. Here is what each one is traditionally said to compare:

Two kootas get special attention because they carry the most points. Nadi dosha is when both birth stars fall in the same nadi, so the couple scores 0 out of 8; it is traditionally associated with concerns about health and children. Bhakoot dosha is when the two Moon signs sit in certain positions relative to each other, giving 0 out of 7. Different schools list different exceptions for both.

How many gunas should match?

The usual answer is at least 18 out of 36. Astrology sites commonly describe the bands roughly like this: below 18 is traditionally not recommended, 18 to 24 is acceptable, 25 to 32 is good, and above 32 is very good.

Two things are worth knowing, and they come from astrologers themselves, not critics:

• The total isn't the final word. Astrology guides describe 18 as a reference point, not a guarantee, and say that a score below 18 doesn't by itself rule out a marriage. Many astrologers weigh the rest of the chart too.
• Different calculators can give different scores. The point tables for some kootas, such as Yoni, Vashya and Gana, differ between almanacs, so two apps can give the same couple different totals.

So if you see 17 on one website and 20 on another, you haven't made a mistake. The systems really do differ.

Manglik dosha (kuja dosha, chovva dosham)

Manglik dosha is probably the most feared word in Indian matchmaking. It's called Manglik in the north, Kuja dosha in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, Chevvai dosham in Tamil Nadu and Chovva dosham in Kerala. It is checked separately from the 36-point score.

A person is usually called Manglik when Mars sits in the 1st, 4th, 7th, 8th or 12th house of the birth chart. Many astrologers, and the standard practice in South India, add the 2nd house. Some count from the Moon or Venus as well as the ascendant, so one astrologer may call a chart Manglik when another doesn't.

Because Mars only has to be in five or six of twelve houses, roughly half of all people come out Manglik when counted from the ascendant alone, and more if the Moon and Venus are counted too. In other words, being Manglik is common, not rare.

Traditions also describe many ways the dosha is “cancelled” or softened. The most widely accepted is simple: if both partners are Manglik, the dosha is considered balanced. Others include Mars sitting in certain signs, or the influence of Jupiter. A Malayalam astrology guide notes that a careful astrologer judges chovva dosham on more than Mars's house position alone.

Kerala's way: jathakam and the 10 poruthams

In Kerala, as in Tamil Nadu and much of South India, matching often uses porutham (“agreement”) rather than the 36-point score. Instead of points, the astrologer checks whether each of ten agreements between the two birth stars holds. Kerala calculators offer a separate “Kerala system” for this. The ten usually listed are:

• Dinam: health and everyday harmony
• Ganam: temperament (Deva, Manushya, Rakshasa)
• Mahendram: prosperity and family growth
• Stree Deergham: the bride's long-term wellbeing
• Yoni: physical compatibility
• Rasi: the distance between the two Moon signs
• Rasi Adhipathi: whether the lords of the two Moon signs are friendly
• Vasya: natural mutual attraction
• Rajju: stars grouped by part of the body; the same group is treated as a serious mismatch
• Vedha: pairs of stars said to afflict each other

Rajju and Vedha are traditionally given the most weight. There's no single rule for how many must agree; a commonly heard guideline is at least five or six of the ten, with Rajju clear. Kerala astrologers also often compare papasamyam, the balance of malefic planetary influence in the two charts.

Horoscopes still matter a great deal in Kerala. A 2021 report in The News Minute described families who would accept even a love marriage only once the horoscopes matched, and people with chovva dosham being told to wait for a partner with the same dosham. One researcher quoted there wrote that horoscope compatibility “was considered mandatory”, and that even a family that doesn't believe in it may receive a proposal from one that does.

What science says about astrology and compatibility

This is where we have to be careful and fair. Astrology has been tested scientifically several times, and the tests haven't found that it predicts what it's said to:

• Carlson, Nature, 1985. In a double-blind test designed with the help of an astrologers' body, which agreed beforehand it was a fair test, 28 astrologers tried to match birth charts to personality profiles. They did no better than chance, and they were no more accurate when they felt most confident.
• Narlikar's test in India, 2008. Astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar and his co-researchers collected the horoscopes of 200 children, 100 academically bright and 100 from special schools. Twenty-seven astrologers took up the challenge to tell them apart from 40 charts each. The best score was 24 correct and the average was 17.5, which the report described as “far worse than tossing a coin”.
• Voas, 2007. Sociologist David Voas at the University of Manchester looked at census records of about 20 million married people in England and Wales. People were no more likely to marry partners of “compatible” star signs than chance would predict.

None of these tests used guna milan itself, and Voas tested Western sun signs, not Vedic charts. We looked for a peer-reviewed study testing whether guna scores or manglik status predict happier or longer marriages, and couldn't find one. So the honest summary is: there's no scientific evidence that guna scores predict how a marriage will go, and wider tests of astrology haven't found predictive power. Even astrology guides themselves describe matching as “one traditional input among many, not a prediction of how a marriage will go.”

What actually predicts a good marriage

Relationship researchers have followed thousands of real couples over years. Here's what they've found matters.

How you treat each other day to day

The largest study of its kind, published in PNAS in 2020, pooled 43 long-term studies of couples from 29 research labs and used machine learning to find which factors best predicted relationship quality. The top relationship factors were how committed each person felt their partner was, appreciation, sexual satisfaction, how satisfied each felt their partner was, and conflict. The strongest individual factors were each person's own life satisfaction, low mood and depression, and attachment style: how anxious or avoidant they tend to be in close relationships.

That same study found something humbling: changes in relationship quality over time were largely unpredictable from any combination of these measures. Nobody, with any method, can promise you a happy marriage in advance.

How you handle disagreement

Psychologist John Gottman's lab found that how couples argue matters more than whether they argue. In one study of 124 newlywed couples, the first three minutes of a conflict discussion predicted whether they would divorce over the next six years. The Gottman Institute names four patterns that predict a relationship ending: criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling, and calls contempt the single greatest predictor of divorce.

Similarity, but maybe not the kind you expect

A study of 291 newlywed couples found that spouses were already very alike in attitudes and values, but much less alike in personality. And it was similarity in personality, especially in how secure each person felt in close relationships, that went with happier marriages. This is something you can only learn by spending real time with a person, and by watching how they behave when things get difficult.

Arranged or love marriage doesn't decide it either

A small 2012 study of 58 Indians living in the US, about half in arranged marriages and half in love marriages, found no difference between the two groups: both reported high love, satisfaction and commitment. How a marriage starts seems to matter less than how two people treat each other once it has.

If your family insists on matching

Many people respect their parents' faith and simply want to go ahead with their blessing. That's a reasonable goal. Others decide not to match horoscopes at all, and that's just as reasonable: it's your marriage. A few ways to keep matching in its place:

• It's fine to say no to it. If neither of you gives horoscopes weight, you can tell your families plainly that you won't be matching, and explain why. Saying it early, kindly and together usually goes better than a quiet refusal later.
• Agree on what it decides before you see the result. Talk to your parents early: is a low score a veto, or one thing to weigh? It's far easier to agree on this before there's a specific person involved.
• Ask for a full reading, not just a number. Many astrologers say the total alone isn't enough and look at cancellations, papasamyam and the rest of the chart. A fuller reading often changes the picture.
• Remember that calculators differ. A score just under 18 on one website may be over 18 on another. Don't let a single online result end a promising match.
• Check whether the dosha is cancelled. If both of you are Manglik, most traditions consider it balanced. If only one is, ask about the other cancellation rules.
• Treat it as one input. Put it alongside what you've learned from meeting: shared plans, kindness, how they disagree, how they speak about their family.

How to talk about a low score or a manglik result

If the result comes back poor and you like the person, try to keep the conversation calm and specific.

• Start with respect. “I know this matters to you, and I'm not dismissing it” goes further than “this is superstition.”
• Share what you've seen. Tell your parents what you know about the person: how they treat people, what they want from life, how they handle a disagreement. Concrete details are reassuring.
• Know that readings differ. If your family won't move without one, some accept a fuller reading from another astrologer, since methods and cancellation rules vary.
• Be honest with the other person. If your family's view might end things, tell them early and kindly. If you're on the other side, it isn't a verdict on you.
• Don't falsify a horoscope. Families sometimes ask astrologers to “adjust” one. If the other family relies on it, an altered chart is a deception, and it's unfair to them. It's more honest to say you don't give it weight.

And if you're the one who is Manglik, please don't carry it as a mark against you. By the most common definitions, roughly half of all people are, and there's no evidence that it affects how a marriage goes.

Where Ourpoint fits

Ourpoint doesn't do horoscope matching. Instead, pairing respects the non-negotiables you set, such as religion or diet, both ways, and the talk is about how you want to live: where, children, money, faith and family. On Ourpoint Live, you spend an evening in your city having six five-minute text chats with verified people, one at a time, each opening with a question for the two of you. After each chat you privately say yes or no, and only a mutual yes is revealed. If your family wants to match horoscopes, that's up to you and them once there's a mutual yes, and if you'd rather not, nothing on Ourpoint asks you to.