A sheet that reads “Bhakoot 0”

Kundli matching (comparing two birth charts before a marriage) in North India usually means Ashtakoot, the “eight-part” match. It scores a couple on eight kootas (tests), and the eight add up to a total out of 36 points, also called gunas. Bhakoot is the seventh of the eight in the usual order, and it carries 7 of the 36 points. Only Nadi, with 8, carries more.

Bhakoot is also written Bhakut, and some sheets call it Rashi Koota. It reads one fact from each chart: the Moon sign (rashi), the one of the twelve signs the Moon was in at birth. It does not look at either sign on its own. It asks how far apart the two signs sit.

Bhakoot has no middle score. A couple gets all 7 points or 0. Three distances score 0, and the 0 is called Bhakoot dosha (a dosha is a flaw a match is said to carry). Every other distance scores the full 7, and so does a shared Moon sign.

So a sheet that reads “Bhakoot 0” is telling you one thing: the two Moon signs sit at one of those three distances, and the sheet did not give the points back. The rest of this guide shows how to check both halves of that sentence yourself.

If your sheet reads “Bhakoot 0, Nadi 8”, here is the short answer. That split is common: counted over every pairing of the two birth-star quarters (padas), almost 1 in 5 shows it. Nadi, the heavier of the two kootas, has no dosha. The total loses 7 points. First check whether the lords of your two Moon signs give the 7 back; the list for your sign below shows it. The section “Bhakoot 0 but Nadi 8” says more.

How to count the distance between two Moon signs

The twelve signs run in one fixed order: Mesha (Aries), Vrishabha (Taurus), Mithuna (Gemini), Karka (Cancer), Simha (Leo), Kanya (Virgo), Tula (Libra), Vrishchika (Scorpio), Dhanu (Sagittarius), Makara (Capricorn), Kumbha (Aquarius) and Meena (Pisces). After Pisces the count goes back to Aries.

Count from one Moon sign to the other, and count the sign you start from as 1. From Aries, Taurus is the 2nd sign. Then count back the other way, from Taurus to Aries, and Aries is the 12th. That pair is written 2/12. For two different signs the two numbers always add up to 14, because the starting sign is counted in both directions.

Three of these pairs flag Bhakoot. Sheets and pandits often use their Sanskrit names:

• 2/12, Dwirdwadash (“two-twelve”): Taurus is the 2nd sign from Aries, and Aries is the 12th from Taurus. The two signs sit next to each other.
• 5/9, Navpancham (“nine-five”): Leo is the 5th sign from Aries, and Aries is the 9th from Leo.
• 6/8, Shadashtak (“six-eight”): Virgo is the 6th sign from Aries, and Aries is the 8th from Virgo.
• Every other distance scores 7: the same sign (1/1), 3/11, 4/10 and the opposite sign, 7/7.

Half of all pairings are flagged; about one pairing in four scores 0

Two ways of counting appear below. A groom’s Moon sign with a bride’s Moon sign is one pairing; there are 12 × 12 = 144. A pair of signs ignores who is the groom, so Aries with Taurus and Taurus with Aries are one pair of signs but two pairings.

Each of the twelve signs has two signs at 2/12, two at 5/9 and two at 6/8. So six of the twelve possible partner signs are flagged, for every Moon sign. Of the 144 pairings, 72 are flagged: exactly half.

That is too many for a rule to block, and the matching tradition gives nearly half of them a way back. In our matching, a flagged pair gets the full 7 when the lords of the two Moon signs are the same planet, or when the two lords count each other as friends. The next sections show how that works.

After that rule, 38 of the 144 pairings score 0, about 1 in 4. Counted as pairs of signs, 36 different pairs are flagged; the rule cancels 17 and 19 keep the 0. The average Bhakoot score across all 144 is 5.15 of 7. The score is the same whichever partner you count from.

The rule does not treat the three distances alike. Of the 12 pairs of different signs at each distance, it cancels 6 at 2/12, 8 at 5/9 and only 3 at 6/8. So a 0 that stands is most often a 6/8.

The sign lords, and the rule that gives the 7 back

Each sign has a ruling planet, its lord. Seven planets rule the twelve signs. Mars rules Aries and Scorpio. Venus rules Taurus and Libra. Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo. Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Pisces. Saturn rules Capricorn and Aquarius. The Moon rules Cancer, and the Sun rules Leo.

The rule has two parts. If both Moon signs have the same lord, the 0 is cancelled. Aries and Scorpio sit 6/8 apart, but Mars rules both. Capricorn and Aquarius sit 2/12 apart, but Saturn rules both. Both pairs score 7.

If the lords are different, the rule asks whether each counts the other a friend. Mars and the Sun do, so Aries and Leo (5/9) score 7. The Sun and Jupiter do, so Leo and Pisces (6/8) score 7. Mars and Venus do not, so Aries and Taurus (2/12) keep the 0.

Parihar means cancellation, so sheets call this a Bhakoot dosha parihar. The lord rule is widely followed, but it is a convention of the matching tradition, not a verse we can quote. Some pandits and calculators apply more checks, and some apply none. The section on why two sheets disagree names the other checks.

Mutual means both ways

The friendship the rule reads is the natural (naisargika) friendship between planets. It is one-way: one planet can count another a friend while the other counts it neutral. The rule needs both to count each other friends.

Cancer and Pisces sit 5/9 apart. Jupiter counts the Moon a friend, but the Moon counts Jupiter neutral, so the 0 stays. Gemini and Capricorn sit 6/8 apart. Saturn counts Mercury a friend, but Mercury counts Saturn neutral, so the 0 stays there too.

This is also why Bhakoot and Graha Maitri move together. Graha Maitri is the koota that scores the friendship between the same two lords, out of 5. In our engine, every pairing whose Bhakoot 0 is cancelled scores the full 5 on Graha Maitri. Every 0 that stands scores 4 or less. Both pairs above score 4, one step short. Our Graha Maitri guide prints the whole friendship table.

So when a sheet shows Bhakoot 0, look at the Graha Maitri line beside it. On our table, a 5 means the two lords are the same or mutual friends, and our matching would give the 7 back; less than 5 means our matching keeps the 0 too. Another sheet may use a different Graha Maitri table, so treat this as a quick first check.

Your Moon sign: the partner signs that keep the 0

Find your own Moon sign below. The first list is the partner signs that keep Bhakoot at 0 in our matching, with the place each one sits counted from your sign. The second list is the flagged partner signs whose 0 the lords cancel. Every sign not named scores the full 7 with yours.

• Aries (Mesha): keeps the 0 with Taurus (2nd) and Virgo (6th). Cancelled: Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Pisces.
• Taurus (Vrishabha): keeps the 0 with Aries (12th) and Sagittarius (8th). Cancelled: Gemini, Virgo, Libra, Capricorn.
• Gemini (Mithuna): keeps the 0 with Cancer (2nd), Scorpio (6th), Capricorn (8th) and Aquarius (9th). Cancelled: Taurus, Libra.
• Cancer (Karka): keeps the 0 with Gemini (12th), Scorpio (5th), Sagittarius (6th), Aquarius (8th) and Pisces (9th). Cancelled: Leo.
• Leo (Simha): keeps the 0 with Virgo (2nd) and Capricorn (6th). Cancelled: Aries, Cancer, Sagittarius, Pisces.
• Virgo (Kanya): keeps the 0 with Aries (8th), Leo (12th), Capricorn (5th) and Aquarius (6th). Cancelled: Taurus, Libra.
• Libra (Tula): keeps the 0 with Scorpio (2nd) and Pisces (6th). Cancelled: Taurus, Gemini, Virgo, Aquarius.
• Scorpio (Vrishchika): keeps the 0 with Gemini (8th), Cancer (9th) and Libra (12th). Cancelled: Aries, Sagittarius, Pisces.
• Sagittarius (Dhanu): keeps the 0 with Taurus (6th), Cancer (8th) and Capricorn (2nd). Cancelled: Aries, Leo, Scorpio.
• Capricorn (Makara): keeps the 0 with Gemini (6th), Leo (8th), Virgo (9th) and Sagittarius (12th). Cancelled: Taurus, Aquarius.
• Aquarius (Kumbha): keeps the 0 with Gemini (5th), Cancer (6th), Virgo (8th) and Pisces (2nd). Cancelled: Libra, Capricorn.
• Pisces (Meena): keeps the 0 with Cancer (5th), Libra (8th) and Aquarius (12th). Cancelled: Aries, Leo, Scorpio.

Bhakoot 0 but Nadi 8

Bhakoot and Nadi are the two heaviest kootas, 7 and 8 points, and families often read them together. They are read from different things. Bhakoot reads the two Moon signs. Nadi reads the two birth stars (nakshatras): it sorts the 27 stars into three groups and asks whether both stars fall in one. So either can be 0 while the other is full.

A sheet that reads “Bhakoot 0, Nadi 8” is common. We scored every pairing of the 108 star quarters (padas; each birth star has four) with our matching. Bhakoot 0 with Nadi 8 came up in 18.8 % of them, almost 1 in 5. Of all the pairings where Bhakoot stayed at 0, about 7 in 10 had Nadi at the full 8.

What it means is narrow. The total loses 7 points, and our matching flags a Bhakoot dosha but no Nadi dosha. Nadi at 8 means the two stars fall in different groups, or that they share a group and a Nadi exception gave the 8 back. Both at 0 together happens in 7.6 % of pairings, about 1 in 13; the total then loses 15 of the 36.

If your sheet came from a calculator that does not run the lord rule, find your two signs in the list above first. If the pair is not listed as keeping the 0, our matching gives the 7 back. Our Nadi and Bhakoot guide covers the Nadi side and its exceptions.

What a Bhakoot 0 decides, and what it does not

Matching sheets and pandits often attach a theme to each distance: money and spending to 2/12, children and shared values to 5/9, health and day-to-day friction to 6/8. Many give 6/8 the most weight of the three. These are the tradition’s readings of the distances. The score itself measures only how far apart two Moon signs sit, and whether their lords are friends.

A Bhakoot 0 cannot see how two people treat money, raise children or settle a quarrel. It is 7 of 36 points, read from one fact in each chart. Our matching flags it as a dosha so you can see it, and it names no remedy, fee or fear with it.

The total is less informative than the breakdown. A 27 with Bhakoot at 0 means the other seven kootas lost only 2 of their 29 points. A 22 with Bhakoot at 7 lost 14 points elsewhere. Our 36-gunas guide explains how to read the total, and why the 18-of-36 line is a convention, not a rule from a text.

If a family is weighing a Bhakoot 0 in a decision, a Jyotishi (a practising astrologer) will usually look at the whole of both charts before giving it weight: the 7th house (the part of the chart read for marriage) and its lord, Venus and Jupiter, and the Navamsa (D9), a chart that divides each sign into nine parts and is read for marriage. A koota score is the start of that reading, not its end.

Families also weigh the three distances differently, and some treat one of them lightly. Our matching treats all three the same way and shows which rule decided.

Why two sheets can print different Bhakoot scores

If two matching reports give the same couple different Bhakoot scores, there are two usual reasons.

The first is the lord rule. Some calculators print 0 for every 2/12, 5/9 and 6/8 pair and never check the lords. Others give the 7 back as our matching does. A few go further and also check the lords of the two Navamsa signs (the signs the Moon falls in on the D9 chart), or the Graha Maitri score, or other factors. If a pandit has cancelled a Bhakoot 0 by a different rule, ask which one.

The second is a different Moon sign. The Moon changes sign about every two and a quarter days. A birth near the change can fall in one sign on one calculator and the next sign on another, if the two use a different ayanamsa (the correction between the star-based zodiac and the Western one) or a slightly different birth time. One sign further on changes the distance, so the 0 can appear or vanish.

Our guide to why calculators give different guna scores shows how these differences add up across all eight kootas.

Check your own Bhakoot in a minute

If you know only the two Moon signs, the list for your sign above is your check. If you know the two birth stars and their padas, the tools below do it for you; the star and pada fix the Moon sign. If you do not know yours, our free sign check finds the Moon sign, birth star and pada from a birth date, time and place.

Enter both stars and padas in our Nadi check. Under its Nadi answer it prints a Bhakoot line from the same two stars. When the two Moon signs sit 2/12, 5/9 or 6/8 apart, it names the distance and the lords, and says whether the lords give the 7 back. It needs no birth time and no account.

To see all eight scores at once, use the star-based calculator. It scores every koota from the two stars and padas and names the rule that decided Bhakoot. Nothing is saved.

Then ask Jyothshi with the two signs in hand. Jyothshi can name the distance and the lords, and say what the other seven kootas add.

• The distance and the lords, from two stars: the Nadi check.
• All eight scores from two stars: the star-based calculator.
• The other koota read from the two sign lords: the Graha Maitri guide.
• When both biodatas share a star or a sign: our same-nakshatra guide.
• The whole 36-point system: our guide to the 36 gunas.