Nakshatra Matching for Marriage, with a 27-Star Table

Nakshatra matching for marriage compares the boy's and girl's birth stars (the nakshatra the moon was in at birth). From the two stars alone, an astrologer can check gana, nadi, yoni, tara, rajju, vedha, dinam and more. Pairs in the same rajju group, in a vedha pair, or in the same nadi are the ones most families avoid.

Star matching is also called natchathira porutham in Tamil and nakshatra porutham in Telugu. It is the quickest form of matching, and it works even when the birth time is lost.

What Star Matching Checks

Most of kundli matching comes from the moon. Once you know both nakshatras, and the rasi for the stars that are split across two signs, these checks can be done:

Bhakoot, rasi porutham and graha maitri use the rasis, which also come from the moon. Only manglik dosha and the full chart checks need the lagna and the exact birth time.

The 27 Nakshatras with Their Attributes

This table gives each star's rasi, gana, nadi, yoni animal and rajju group. Compare the boy's row with the girl's row to see most of the match at a glance.

Gana, nadi and yoni follow the classical Muhurta Chintamani tables. The rajju groups are as listed on Prokerala's rajju porutham page. Where a star shows two rasis, the pada decides which one: Krittika pada 1 is Mesha, padas 2 to 4 are Vrishabha.

How to Read Two Rows Together

Take a boy born in Hasta and a girl born in Anuradha.

• Gana: Deva and Deva. Best.
• Nadi: Adi and Madhya. Different, so the full 8.
• Yoni: buffalo and deer. Not enemies.
• Rajju: Kanta and Kati. Different groups, so rajju passes.
• Vedha: Hasta's vedha partner is Shatabhisha, not Anuradha. Passes.

On these five checks the pair looks good. A pandit would still check tara, bhakoot and the rest, but you already know nothing big has failed.

Now take a boy born in Rohini and a girl born in Swati. Both are Kanta rajju, so rajju fails. Rohini and Swati are also a vedha pair. Most Tamil jothidars would stop there.

Pairs Most Families Avoid

There is no list of "worst stars". What families avoid are pairs that fail a heavy check.

1. Same rajju group. In South India this alone usually ends the talk. For example Rohini with Hasta, both Kanta.
2. A vedha pair. Prokerala's vedha porutham page lists pairs such as Ashwini and Jyeshtha, Bharani and Anuradha, Magha and Revati, and Hasta and Shatabhisha.
3. Same nadi, in North India. For example Pushya with Chitra, both Madhya.
4. A Rakshasa-gana girl with a Deva or Manushya boy, which Prokerala's gana notes mark as not recommended.
5. Enemy yoni animals, such as Magha (rat) with Punarvasu (cat), or Uttara Ashadha (mongoose) with Rohini (serpent).

Which Nakshatra Is Good for Marriage?

No nakshatra is good or bad for marriage on its own. A star is only good or bad in relation to the partner's star.

What is true is that some stars have more matching partners than others, because of their rajju and nadi groups. That is why a jothidar sometimes gives a family a list of "preferred stars" and "stars not matching" before they start looking. The OnlineJyotish star match tool does something similar: you pick your nakshatra and pada, and it lists the partner stars that score above 25 out of 36.

Same Nakshatra Marriage

When the boy and girl share a nakshatra, they share its nadi and its rajju too. So a same-star pair starts with nadi dosha in the North and a rajju failure in the South.

Some astrologers allow exceptions. Classical texts quoted on OnlineJyotish's nadi page name certain stars, such as Rohini, Ardra, Pushya and Shravana, as free of the same-nadi problem. Others accept a same-star match when the padas or rasis differ. Without such an exception, most astrologers advise against it.

Star Matching and Full Kundli Matching

Star matching is the first filter. It tells you within minutes whether a proposal is worth taking further.

Full kundli or jathagam matching adds the lagna, the 7th house, manglik dosha, papa samyam and the dasa periods. That needs the exact birth time of both. Many families do star matching when the biodata arrives and the full matching only for the two or three proposals they like. For the South Indian ten-point method, see 10 porutham for marriage.

If one side does not know the birth time, star matching is often all that can be done. Our page on kundli milan without birth time explains what is lost and what still works.

Getting the Star Right on the Biodata

A wrong star wastes everyone's time. The moon stays in one nakshatra for about a day, so on the day of a star change, the hour of birth decides the star.

Our biodata with horoscope works out the nakshatra and pada from the birth date, time and place. With Add Your Own Field in the Horoscope section, you can also add two rows that jothidars often give families: "Preferred stars" and "Stars not matching". Those two rows save the other side a phone call.

Gana and nadi are not filled in by the maker, but you can add them the same way, next to the star. Those are the two checks pandits look at first.

Nadi is explained fully in nadi dosha, and the 36-point system in 36 gun milan.