Both birth charts are calculated from scratch on our servers for the exact birth moment and place, then matched by the traditional Ashtakoot Guna Milan. These are the methods and sources we use, so you can compare our score with any other software or an astrologer.
- Swiss Ephemeris (licensed professional edition)
- Planet positions come from the Swiss Ephemeris by Astrodienst, used under a paid professional licence, with its full data files (based on NASA JPL's DE431 ephemeris). It is the same astronomical engine used by most professional astrology software and is accurate to well under one arcsecond.
- Sidereal zodiac, Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa
- Positions are sidereal, using the Lahiri ayanamsa adopted by the Government of India's Calendar Reform Committee (1955) and used by most Indian almanacs. The ayanamsa for your birth date is shown with your chart.
- Birth time and time zone
- Your local birth time is converted to Universal Time with the IANA time zone database, including historical time zone and daylight saving changes for your birth place.
- Moon sign and nakshatra
- Guna Milan uses each partner’s sidereal Moon: its sign (Rashi), nakshatra and pada, taken from the Moon’s exact longitude at birth. When the Moon is close to the edge of a sign or nakshatra, the exact degree decides it, so an accurate birth time matters.
- Ashtakoot Guna Milan (36 points)
- Eight kootas are scored with the classical tables used by most Vedic software: Varna 1, Vashya 2, Tara 3, Yoni 4, Graha Maitri 5, Gana 6, Bhakoot 7 and Nadi 8, for a total of 36. Traditionally 18 is the minimum for marriage and 25 or more is an excellent match.
- Nadi, Bhakoot and Gana dosha
- Each of these doshas is reported when its koota scores zero. We do not apply the classical cancellation (parihara) rules, so a dosha shown here may be cancelled by other factors in the charts. Discuss it with an astrologer before deciding.
- Manglik (Mangal) dosha
- A partner is marked Manglik when Mars is in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th or 12th house from the Lagna (whole-sign houses). We do not count it from the Moon or Venus, or apply cancellations such as both partners being Manglik.
- How we check our results
- Automated tests run with every release. They compare our koota scores with the horoscope match of a leading published panchang for sample couples and agree on every koota, except Yoni for two animal pairs where its table differs from the classical one by a point.
Sources: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra; Muhurta Chintamani (chapter on marriage); Astrodienst, Swiss Ephemeris documentation; Calendar Reform Committee report, Government of India (1955).
