Bhakoot Dosha Calculator

Counting from one Moon to the other

Signs are counted inclusively in this scheme: the sign you start from is the 1st. From Aquarius, Pisces is the 2nd, Leo the 7th and Capricorn the 12th. Count the other way, from the partner's sign back to yours, and the two numbers always add up to 14, except when both Moons share a sign. That is why the distances come in pairs — 2-12, 3-11, 4-10, 5-9, 6-8 — plus the two symmetric cases, the same sign (1-1) and the opposite sign (7-7).

Seven distances, then, and the koota treats them as a simple yes or no. Same sign, 3-11, 4-10 and 7-7 each score the full 7 points. The other three score nothing. The grid under the example lays out all 144 combinations of Moon signs, so the pattern is visible at a glance: every row has exactly six zeros.

The three zero distances

Dvirdvadasha is the 2-12 relationship, the signs on either side of each other. The texts associate it with money and expenditure. Navapanchama is 5-9, which is a trine and harmonious in ordinary chart reading, yet a zero in this koota; the texts tie it to children and shared fortune. Shadashtaka is 6-8, the axis of the sixth and eighth houses, and the one the texts weigh most heavily, linking it with disputes and health.

Those associations are the traditional readings of each distance, not forecasts. A zero on Bhakoot removes 7 points from the total and no more; how much it matters in a particular match is a question for the full comparison, where the other seven kootas, the two charts as a whole and the exceptions are all weighed together.

Exceptions from the sign lords

The exception the matching tradition agrees on most widely is a single lord for both signs. Mars rules Aries and Scorpio, which are 6-8 from each other; Venus rules Taurus and Libra, also 6-8; Saturn rules Capricorn and Aquarius, which are 2-12; Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Pisces, 4-10, which already scores in full. Where one planet owns both Moon signs the dosha is listed as not applying.

A second listed exception is when the two lords are natural friends of each other. Natural friendship follows Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra, where each planet counts some planets friends, some neutral and some enemies, and the relation is not always mutual. When the lords are friends both ways, the result says so; when one counts the other a friend and the other is only neutral, it says the texts differ on that case. The score stays at 0 in all of these, because that is how it enters the 36-point total.

Why only the Moon sign

Bhakoot is one of the four kootas read from the two Moon signs, alongside Varna, Vashya and Graha Maitri. It needs no nakshatra, no pada and no house: just the sign the Moon occupied at birth for each partner. That sign is often not the one a birthday suggests, because the sign of a newspaper column is the Sun's tropical sign, while Vedic matching uses the Moon's sidereal one. The Moon changes sign about every two and a quarter days.

So the one thing to get right before reading this page is the Moon sign itself. If the Moon was near the end of a sign at birth, an error of a few hours in the birth time can move it into the next sign and change every count on this page. The free Moon sign calculator on this site finds it from a date, time and place of birth.

Bhakoot inside the full match

Bhakoot carries 7 of the 36 points, second only to Nadi's 8. The two are often discussed together because they are the two largest all-or-nothing scores, and the same pair of charts can lose either, both or neither. Bhakoot also overlaps with Graha Maitri, which reads the friendship of the very same two sign lords and scores it from 0 to 5.

For all eight kootas at once, the free kundli matching page takes both sets of birth details. The Nadi dosha calculator covers the zero that comes from the birth stars. As with every calculation on this site, the result describes what the classical scheme computes; it is for reference and does not decide anything about a marriage.

What is bhakoot dosha?

It is a zero on the Bhakoot koota of Ashtakoota matching. It happens when the two Moon signs are 2-12, 5-9 or 6-8 from each other. Bhakoot is worth 7 of the 36 points, so the dosha removes 7 points from the total. The matching tradition also lists exceptions, most widely when one planet rules both Moon signs.

Which rashi pairs have bhakoot dosha?

Any pair of Moon signs that are second and twelfth, fifth and ninth, or sixth and eighth from each other. For Aries that means Taurus and Pisces (2-12), Leo and Sagittarius (5-9) and Virgo and Scorpio (6-8). Every sign has exactly six such partners; the grid on this page shows them for all twelve.

Is bhakoot dosha cancelled when the sign lords are the same?

The matching tradition lists one lord for both signs as an exception, and it is the exception most widely accepted. It applies to Aries with Scorpio, Taurus with Libra and Capricorn with Aquarius. This calculator reports the exception beside the score but does not change the score, which stays at 0 in the 36-point total.

What does 6-8 or shadashtak mean in matching?

Shadashtaka is the relationship where one Moon sign is sixth from the other, which makes the other eighth from the first. It is one of the three bhakoot doshas and the one the texts treat with the most caution, associating it with disputes and health. Aries and Scorpio are 6-8 but share Mars as lord, which is a listed exception.

Is navpancham 5-9 good or bad in kundli matching?

In the Bhakoot koota it scores 0, so it counts as one of the three bhakoot doshas, even though fifth and ninth from each other is a trine and harmonious in ordinary chart reading. The texts link it to children and shared fortune. Whether the lords give an exception depends on the two signs.

Can I use my Sun sign for bhakoot?

No. Bhakoot is read between the two Moon signs in the sidereal zodiac. The Sun sign most people know is tropical and belongs to a different system, and even the sidereal Sun is not the sign Bhakoot uses. Use the Moon sign from a Janam Kundli or from the Moon sign calculator.