Nakshatra compatibility is the traditional ashtakoot (gun milan) score worked out from the Moon's nakshatra and Moon sign of two people, out of 36 points. The chart on this page gives the real score for every one of the 27 × 27 pairings, computed by the same code that runs our kundli matching, with groom and bride kept separate because a few kootas are not symmetric.
Many sites show a single "compatibility percentage" for two nakshatras. We don't, because no text defines one and the ashtakoot system was never designed to give one. What the tradition does define is eight kootas, each with its own points and its own rule. Those rules are what this chart applies.
Why the Moon's nakshatra
In Vedic astrology the Moon stands for the mind, feelings and daily temperament. Marriage matching asks how two temperaments sit together, so the classical method starts from each person's janma nakshatra, the nakshatra the Moon occupied at birth. If you don't know yours, a free kundli will show it, and each nakshatra's page in our nakshatra library explains its nature.
The eight kootas and their points
- Varna (1 point). A broad ranking of temperament by the Moon sign's element.
- Vashya (2 points). Whether one sign's nature tends to draw or yield to the other's.
- Tara (3 points). Count from one nakshatra to the other, reduce by nine; the 3rd (vipat), 5th (pratyari) and 7th (vadha) are unfavourable. Each direction is worth 1.5.
- Yoni (4 points). Each nakshatra has an animal. The same animal scores 4; sworn enemies score 0: horse and buffalo, elephant and lion, sheep and monkey, serpent and mongoose, dog and deer, cat and rat, cow and tiger.
- Graha maitri (5 points). Friendship between the lords of the two Moon signs.
- Gana (6 points). Deva, manushya or rakshasa temperament. Deva with manushya and like with like score well; manushya with rakshasa scores 0.
- Bhakoot (7 points). The distance between the Moon signs. The 2/12, 5/9 and 6/8 relations score 0.
- Nadi (8 points). Adi, madhya or antya. The same nadi scores 0; different nadis score 8.
Our guide to the 36 gunas walks through each rule in detail.
What the nakshatra fixes and what the sign fixes
Tara, yoni, gana and nadi depend only on the two nakshatras. Together they carry 21 of the 36 points. Varna, vashya, graha maitri and bhakoot depend on the Moon signs and carry the other 15. So two nakshatras already settle most of the score, but not all of it.
This is why a few cells show a range. Nine nakshatras cross a sign boundary: Krittika, Mrigashira, Punarvasu, Uttara Phalguni, Chitra, Vishakha, Uttara Ashadha, Dhanishta and Purva Bhadrapada. A Moon in the first pada of Krittika is in Aries; in the other three it is in Taurus. The sign-based kootas change with that, and so does the total. The usual score is the one that holds over most of the two nakshatras' arcs; the range shows the lowest and highest the pair can reach.
Groom and bride are also kept apart. Gana is not symmetric (a manushya groom with a deva bride scores 5, the reverse 6), and varna is read from the groom's side. That is why the chart has separate rows for each.
How to read the bands
Our engine labels a total below 18 as low, 18 to 24.5 as average, 25 to 32 as good and above 32 as excellent. These are the conventional thresholds, and 18 is the figure most families use as a minimum. We show the band and the actual number, never a percentage, because turning 36 points into a percentage suggests a precision the system does not have. A 26 is not a grade on a relationship; it is a 26, made of eight specific findings you can read one by one.
Nadi and bhakoot exceptions
Nadi carries the most points, so a nadi dosha (the same nadi, 0 of 8) draws the most attention. Each nadi holds nine nakshatras, so roughly one pair in three shares a nadi. Texts list exceptions, and our tool flags the three most widely cited: the same Moon sign with different nakshatras, the same nakshatra with different Moon signs, and the same nakshatra with different padas. We show them beside the score but do not add points back, because astrologers differ on whether an exception cancels the dosha or only softens it. Our nadi dosha guide covers this calmly.
Bhakoot has exceptions of its own in the texts, usually tied to the two sign lords being the same or friendly. Here too the chart reports the koota as scored and leaves the weighing to the reader or their astrologer.
Other systems
South Indian families often use a porutham system of ten or so checks (dina, gana, yoni, rasi, rajju and others) instead of ashtakoot. It overlaps with gun milan but weighs things differently, and some regions skip nadi entirely for certain nakshatras. A pair can look different under each. Neither is wrong; they are different traditions.
The score is a start
Gun milan is one traditional screen, not a verdict on a relationship. A high total does not promise a happy marriage and a low one does not doom it. A complete kundli matching also looks at manglik status, the seventh house, navamsa and the running dasha, and none of it replaces two people talking honestly. Start with a nakshatra, such as Ashwini, Rohini or Pushya, or go back to all compatibility tools.