Horoscope Compatibility

As part of arranged marriage, most parents check the Horoscope compatibility of the Boy and the Girl to be married. They proceed further if the horoscopes match well otherwise drop the alliance and start looking for next. So, Horoscope compatibility plays a major role in the arranged marriage.

What is Horoscope Compatibility ? : To ensure a happy married life, the ancient sages devised a system known as Horoscope Compatibility. In this system, the Birth Star and Sign of the Girl and the Boy will be examined for a match from different aspects. The more the number of matches, the better the compatibility of horoscope is.

Kaala Vidhanam, a collection of ancient work, summarizes 10 different aspects to look for in the horoscope of Boy and Girl for a happy married life.

दशविधैविवाहघटना:

अत:परं प्रवक्ष्यामि घटनां वरकन्य्यो: |
दिनं गणं च माहेन्द्रं स्त्रीदीर्घ योनिरेव च ||
राशिराश्यधिपौ वश्यं रज्जुर्वेधा च ते दश ||

They are :   1) Dinam   2) Ganam   3) Mahendram   4) Sthree Deergha   5) Yoni  
6) Rasi   7) Rasiyathipathi  8) Vashyam  9) Rajju  10) Vedha

If 8 out of 10 are in agreement, then it is considered as best compatible horoscopes. And there are cases where bare minimum of 5 aspects (Either Dinam or Ganam, Mahendram or Rasi, Yoni, Rajju, and Vedha) are considered as good to go.

In addition to 10 aspects, Ascendant and the Planetary Period should also be checked. Normally, these are omitted either due to ignorance or for some other reasons.

Now, let's take a closer look at each aspects one by one.

1. Dinam : If this "koota" or aspect agrees, the Boy and the Girl will remain Healthy and Wealthy. Also, the understanding between them, on a daily basis, will be good.

Rule : Count from the Girl's birth star to the Boy' star. If the count is 3, 5, 7, 12, 14, 16, 21, 22, 23, 25 then it does not agree.

In case the count is 27, if the Signs are different then it does not agree. For example, if Girl's star is Ashwini, and Boy's star is Revathi, then the count is 27. But, since the Signs are different (Aries & Pisces), it does not agree.

In case the count is 1 i.e., same Star, and if the star is Bharani, Ashlesha (Ayilyam), Swathi, Jyeshta (Kettai), Mula, Shravishta (Avittam), Shatabisha (Sadayam) or Purva Bhadrapada (Purattadi) then the horoscope should be avoided.

Dominant Stars : If either Boy or Girl's birth star is Swathi or Mrigasirsha or Magha or Anuradha (Anusham), they can be married without checking for 10 matches.

2. Ganam : If this koota agrees, the sexual life of the Boy and the Girl will be compatible. It is also a matching of minds and temperaments. Both of them will either have same temperament or will tolerate each other, if the Ganam agrees.

There are three categories of Ganam viz., Deva, Manushya and Rakshasha which stand for God, Human and Demon respectively. Each star is assigned to one of these three Ganas as show below.

Rule : If both the Boy and the Girl are of the same Ganam, then it is Best (Uttamam). If the Girl star is Deva Ganam and the Boy star is Manushya Ganam, it is Medium (Madhyamam). If the Girl star is Rakshasha Ganam and the Boy star is Deva Ganam, then it is Worst (Adhamam) and it should be avoided. If Girl star is Rakshasha and the Boy star is Manushya, then also it should also be avoided.

Exemption : If the Boy star is Rakshasha Ganam and the Girl star is Manushya Ganam, then it agrees. If the Girl star is Rakshasha and the count of the Boy star (from the Girl star) is more than 14, then it agrees.

In case the Sign lords of the Boy and the Girl are the same (ex - Aries and Scorpio), or if the Sign lords are mutually friend (ex - Leo and Sagittarius), the blemish caused due to Ganam, Rasi, Rajju and Vedai will get cancelled. They can still be married.

3. Mahendram: It confers Progeny and Wealth, if agrees.

Rule : Counting from the Girl's star to the Boy's star, if the count is 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22 or 25 then it is good.

4. Sthree Deergham : It confers span of married life for a longer period. It also confers overall prosperity.

Rule : Counting from Girl's star to the Boy' star, if the count is greater than 13, then it is good. Some text says greater than 7 is good.

5. Yoni : It refers to the reproductive organ. The Boy and the Girl will have sexual compatibility, if this koota agrees.

To find out the Yoni compatibility, each star is assigned with an animal name and the animals which are mutually enemies are also listed.

Rule : If the animal name assigned with the stars of the Boy and the Girl are mutually enemies, then it should be avoided.

6. Rasi : It signifies the expansion of lineage through the birth of a Son. If this feature is compatible, then the lineage will expand to next generation otherwise will stop with the present generation.

Rule : Counting from the Girl's Zodiacal Sign (Rasi) to the Boy's sign, if the count is 1, 7, 9, 10, 11 or 12, then it is compatible.

In case the count is 1 (same Zodiac sign), then the Boy star should star should come first and the Girl's star next. Even so, if the stars happen to be Bharani x Krithika, Shravishta x Shatabisha and Pushya x Ashlesha, should not be matched.

In case the count is 7 (Samasapthamam) and the Signs are Capricorn x Cancer or Aquarius x Leo, then it should be avoided.

If the count from Girl to Boy's Sign is 6 and that from Boy to Girl is 8, it is called as Shashtashtakam, meaning 6 x 8. In such cases, it should be avoided.

Exemption : In case of Shashtashtakam, Aries x Virgo, Sagittarius x Taurus, Libra x Pisces, Aquarius x Cancer, Leo x Capricorn, Gemini x Scorpio are exempted from 6 x 8 Blemish. But, in practical life 6 x 8 gives problem in the marital life and hence it should be avoided. However, if the Sign lords are same Scorpio x Aries, Taurus x Libra, it goes well.

7. Rasiyathipathi : It confers Progeny and a friendly relationship between the Boy and the Girl's parents.

The planetary relationship is applied to check this compatibility.

Rule : If the Sign lord of the Girl is friendly or neutral with that of Boy, it agrees.

8. Vasya : It confers mutual love and affection between the Boy and the Girl.

Rule : The Girl's zodiacal sign should agree with the Boy's zodiacal sign as shown in the list below.

9. Rajju : It confers living happily with the family for longtime. In other words, it refers to the longevity of the family members and prosperity. It is the most important match of all the ten. If this does not agree, the horoscope should be rejected and should not proceed.

A Planet and its set of 3 stars represent a part of the body viz., Head, Neck, Stomach, Thigh and Foot as shown below.

Rule : Both the Boy and the Girl's Star should not refer to the same part of the Body.

If the Star of the Boy and the Girl refers to head, then the husband will die. If it is neck, wife will die. If it is Stomach, loss of children (no heirs). If it is thigh, poverty will prevail and if it is foot, life will be nomadic.

Exemption : In case both the Boy and the Girl's star refers to the same part of the body, but one is Arohana and another one is Avarohana, then it agrees. Even so, if the star refers to the Head, it must be dropped.

For instance, Bharani and Anuradha agrees though the both point to Thigh because Bharani is Arohana and Anuradha is Avarohana. But, practically it gets rejected as no one is willing to takes risk.

10. Vedha : When this agrees, all evils and sorrows in life will be removed and happiness in life will be ensured.

Certain stars are mutually rival to other, as shown in the list below.

Rule : The star of the boy and the girl should not be mutually rival to each other. In addition what is shown in the list, Mrigasirsha, Chitra and Shravishta are mutually rival to each other.

Additional compatibility checking

Apart from the 10 aspects, the horoscopes of the Boy and the Girl should also be matched for Lagna and Dasha compatibility.

Lagna : It confers consensus between the Boy and the Girl while making any decision.

Rule : Counting from the Girl's Lagna (Ascendant) to the Boy's Lagna, if the count is 4, 6, 8 and 12, then it should be avoided.

In case of Shastashtaka (6 x 8), if the Ascendant Lord is same, then it agrees.

Dasha : It confers happy married life during the initial stage of marriage.

Rule : At the time of marriage, if the 4th, 8th or 12th house star lord Dasha is ruling, then it should be avoided.

For instance, consider Aries Ascendant. The 4th (Cancer), 8th (Scorpio) and 12th house (Pisces) Starlords are be Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury. So, at the time of marriage, if Dasha any of these Starlords (Planets) are ruling, then it should be avoided.

Similarly, if the ruling Bhukti is the last two, or the period of the last Bhukti is less than 2 years, it should be avoided because the result of the next Dasha will be unpredictable and may ward off happiness when Dasha changes. This is known as Dasha Sandhi (Junction).

Additional factors to be checked

Once the Girl and Boy's horoscopes are found compatible, then the horoscope should be analyzed thoroughly for presence of any Marriage Dosha such as Manglik Dosha, Kalathra Dosha. Also, at the time of marriage both the Girl and the Boy should Not be having Ashtama Shani (Transit Saturn transiting through 8th house).