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The detailed version of this article is featured in the book ‘Match Making & Manglik Dosh (Revised Edition 2020)’.
Horoscope Matching
Importance of Moon in Horoscope Matching
Sun and Moon are considered as the two most important planets in Vedic astrology. Among these two; Moon is considered more important. Though Sun represents very important characteristics like confidence, intelligence, initiative and leadership abilities; Moon represents the mind. Through mind, Moon also represents emotional wellbeing and peace of mind.
The value of Moon is enhanced a lot; when it comes to relationships. Relationships are primarily run by emotions as well as feelings and both these attributes are ruled by Moon. Hence you simply may not have good relationships and sustain them; unless you’re blessed by the energy of Moon. The emotional bonds which make and sustain relationships are ruled by Moon. Since mother ranks the highest when it comes to have beautiful relationships (with her children), mother is also ruled by Moon.
When it comes to a relationship like marriage, there may be no planet as important as Moon; especially in case of arranged marriages. In Vedic India; most marriages were arranged. Hence the bride and groom had no prior interactions with each other. In most cases; even their families didn’t have direct interactions and marriage proposals were sought through circles of friends and relatives. This system is still alive in India. Though some couples are engaging in love marriages in present times; some couples are still engaging in arranged marriages.
When a marriage is arranged, two strangers are supposed to form a very valuable relationship; a bond which may become the most important one for the rest of their lives. Hence parents take advice from astrologers by horoscope matching in order to find out if such relationship is going to sustain and if it is going to be meaningful. A marriage may look like a union of two people; it is a union of two minds in the deepest sense.
What is Gun Milaan
Accordingly, the system of Gun Milaan was devised, to assess the success rate of marriages; based on unique attributes belonging to Moon. When this system was devised, it was believed ‘marriage is a union of two minds’. Though other planetary factors were duly considered; but major focus was put on Gun Milaan. Let’s try to understand the system of Gun Milaan before moving ahead with the discussion.
During their transitory motion; all planets among navagraha except Rahu and Ketu move from Aries to Pisces in cyclic movements. Rahu and Ketu move from Pisces to Aries in cyclic retrograde motion. Hence Moon also moves from Aries to Pisces. Within these twelve signs; lie 27 nakshatras from Ashwini to Revati. Hence each planet moves through these 27 nakshatras also; while moving through 12 zodiac signs. This concept has been explained in details in the book ‘Nakshatras – The Journey of Soul’.
At any given point in time; Moon is placed in one specific sign as well as in one specific nakshatra within that sign; like all other planets among navagraha. When a native is born; the sign of placement of Moon at that time is commonly called the birth sign, Moon sign, Moon Raashi or simply Raashi of that native. Likewise, the nakshatra of placement of Moon is called the birth nakshatra of the native. 12 signs and 27 nakshatras form a number of favorable and unfavorable combinations among themselves. The study of such combinations as well as their outcomes is conducted through the system of Gun Milaan.
Through this system, various attributes associated with Moon signs and Moon nakshatras of bride and groom are matched. This matching indicates outcomes which may be highly favorable, favorable, average, unfavorable or highly unfavorable; depending on the points which may be scored out of 36. These points are called Gunas. Since this system works on the basis of calculating the strength of a match based on Gunas; it is called Gun Milaan (point based matching). Let’s see how such Gunas are assigned.
Important Aspects of Horoscope Matching
Vedic astrology considers eight important koots (aspects) which form the core of this system called Gun Milaan. These koots as well as the points assigned to them are listed below. We’ll discuss each individual koot in details; in the coming chapters.
Varna: 1 Point
Vashya: 2 Points
Tara: 3 Points
Yoni: 4 Points
Graha Maitri: 5 Points
Gana: 6 Points
Bhakoot: 7 Points
Nadi: 8 Points
Points or Gunas are assigned to each one of these eight koots as mentioned above. The koot of Varna is considered as the least important in this system and hence it carries 1 point. Moving down the point table, the koot of Nadi is considered as the most important koot and hence it carries 8 points. The remaining six koots carry 2 to 6 points based on their importance. The total number comes out as 36 when the points for all the koots are added up. Hence in the system of Gun Milaan, the total score is 36. The score that a couple under consideration gets out of this total score decides the strength of compatibility between such couple.
A score below 18 is considered bad for compatibility and it gets worse as it moves down to 1. A score above 18 is progressively considered better and a score of 36 out of 36 is called a perfect match. Hence, if a couple registers a score of 26 out of 36, the match is recommended with some cautions and some remedies for the missing Gunas. However, if a score of 10 or below is obtained, the match is not recommended at all, even with remedies. This is how the system of Gun Milaan works.
Knowing this much, let’s move ahead with the discussion. The system of Gun Milaan considers Moon and Moon alone for all calculations. No other planets is taken into account while making calculations through this system.
All eight koots have been named on the basis of placements of Moon in various signs and nakshatras. For example, the koot named Yoni stands for the species to which a specific nakshatra among 27 nakshatras relates. To simplify, the first nakshatra Ashwini is associated with horse yoni. Hence the placement of Moon in this nakshatra in the birth chart of a native makes him have horse yoni, according to this system.
Similarly, the koot of Graha Maitri which carries 5 points in this system is calculated on the basis of presence of Moon in specific signs in the birth charts of the natives being considered for marriage. If the lords of the signs of placements of Moon in the birth charts of such natives are same or friendly towards each other, 5 out of 5 points are assigned. For example, if both natives have their Moon signs as Libra or one of them has Moon sign as Libra whereas the other one has the Moon sign as Gemini, 5 out of 5 points are assigned. In the first case, both the Moon signs belong to the same planet Venus whereas in the second case, the lords of these Moon signs being Venus and Mercury are mutually friendly towards each other.
On the other hand, if the lords of the Moon signs of these two natives are enemies towards each other, 0 out of 5 points are assigned for this koot. For example, if the Moon sign of one native is Leo and the Moon sign of the other native is Aquarius, 0 out of 5 points is assigned for Graha Maitri koot. This is because the lord of the sign Leo and the lord of the sign of Aquarius, which are Sun and Saturn respectively, are mutual enemies.
Similarly, the points for all other koots are also assigned and finally a score is calculated by adding up all those points. As already mentioned, if the final score is good, it is called a good match. However, if the score is bad or very bad, the match is not recommended.
Since this system works on the basis of Moon alone, it can’t be a complete system on its own; when it comes to decide the fate of a marriage. Hence it may be a helpful system but it may not be the only factor which should be considered. Given the kind of wisdom that ancient astrologers and sages possessed, it is doubtful that they depended on the system of Gun Milaan alone; for predicting the fate of marriages. They must have considered other important factors also.
Effects of the Planets on Horoscope Matching
A horoscope features 9 planets, 12 houses, 12 signs and 27 nakshatras. Each one of them is important in one sense or another and none of them can be ignored. Some of them may be important because they can bring good things and some of them may be important because they can cause destruction; depending on the overall theme of a horoscope in question. Among these factors, the planets carry maximum importance and their placements in various houses, signs, nakshatras and navamshas may strongly influence any sphere of life.
Taking an example, suppose exalted Moon is placed in the sixth house in Taurus in Mrigashira nakshatra, in the horoscope of a male native. Let’s consider another case where exalted Moon is placed in the twelfth house in Taurus in Rohini nakshatra in the horoscope of a female native. When we match these horoscopes through the system of Gun Milaan, the score comes out as 36 out of 36; which means a perfect match.
The male native has a horoscope with Sagittarius ascendant and the female native has a horoscope with Gemini ascendant. Suppose malefic Mars forms Manglik Dosh in the seventh house of male native’s horoscope in Gemini in Ardra nakshatra. In this case, Manglik Dosh alone is capable of breaking this marriage, despite the perfect match indicated by Gun Milaan.
Suppose malefic Mars forms Manglik Dosh in the seventh house of female native’s horoscope in Sagittarius in Moola nakshatra. Manglik Dosh in the seventh house in Moola nakshatra can prove destructive and this defect alone holds the potential to break two to three marriages of this native. Since both natives have Manglik Dosh in their horoscopes; the marriage may fail miserably. It means Manglik Dosh; when present in one or both horoscopes being considered for horoscope matching; carries significant importance and it can’t be ignored, merely on the basis of perfect or very good score in Gun Milaan.
Let’s consider another probability and let’s start without Manglik Dosh in any of these horoscopes. Let’s suppose in the horoscope of a male native; malefic Venus is placed in the sixth house in Taurus in Krittika nakshatra along with Moon. Venus represents marriage and wife for a male native. It is malefic and placed in the sixth house which is a difficult to handle house. Moon rules the eighth house in this case and it too is malefic. As a result, Venus is under attack from Moon and from the sixth house.
This malefic combination alone is capable of breaking more than one marriage of the native despite the perfect score of 36 given by Gun Milaan. In addition to that, such malefic combination holds the potential to make the native lose his first wife to death.
Let’s make a change to the horoscope of the female native also. Suppose debilitated Jupiter is placed in the eighth house of her horoscope in Capricorn. Jupiter represents husband and marriage as its general significance in case of female natives. Since Jupiter rules the seventh house in this horoscope; it represents the husband and marriage as its specific significance also. Hence the most important planet for the marriage of this female native is debilitated in the eighth house; which is a difficult to handle house.
This placement of Jupiter alone is capable of creating serious problems related to the marriage of this female native; including the death of her husband. Here again, Gun Milaan gives the perfect score of 36 but the actual results may be the opposite of perfect. If these two natives get married, the results may be disastrous.
Apart from that; there are a number of other problems which may be created by various planets in these two horoscopes and such problems may be directly related to marriage. Taking an example, let’s start with basic placements of Moon in both horoscopes. Suppose Rahu and Ketu form Anant Kaal Sarp Yog in the horoscope of the female native. It means Rahu is placed in the first house in Gemini, Ketu is placed in the seventh house in Sagittarius and all other planets are placed between the seventh and twelfth house.
Suppose Rahu is placed in Ardra nakshatra within the sign of Gemini and Ketu is placed in Moola nakshatra within the sign of Sagittarius. Such Anant Kaal Sarp Yog may prove very troublesome for marriage as well as for other spheres of this native’s life. It may destroy one, two, three or more marriages of this native; depending on her overall horoscope. Here again, Gun Milaan gives a score of 36 but the fate of this marriage may be troublesome.
Similarly, there are hundreds of other defects, placements and combinations which may create serious problems in the marriage of these natives. However, Gun Milaan may still assign 36 points which means the marriage is perfect. In order to understand different concepts; we have only assumed that one of them may be present in a horoscope, at a time. However in reality; more than one of such troublesome concepts may be present in one or both the horoscopes.
There is another fact related to horoscope matching which carries great importance. In the Vedic times; it was believed ‘marriage is a union of two minds’. These were the times when people in general had different lifestyles, different needs, different societies and a number of other different attributes; compared to us. Hence much importance was assigned to the fact that the partners should be compatible on the level of mind.
It means primary importance was not assigned to aspects like education, wealth, luxuries, foreign settlement and many other such aspects. The primary goal of horoscope matching was that the partners should be compatible with each other. Hence if both the horoscopes showed not many materialistic resources and pleasures but they showed good compatibility; one such match was considered good. The material aspect was limited to needs only; in most cases. It means if the couple was able to meet their daily needs and have good compatibility; the marriage was considered good. Those times were more spiritual where peace of mind mattered the most.
Horoscope Matching in the Modern Times
The world has changed a lot since then. Looking at the present times; we are living in the age of materialism. Accordingly, the primary needs have changed. Success, wellbeing, prosperity, resources and pleasures related to material domain have become the primary focus for post people in present times. As a result, the primary concerns related to horoscope matching have changed.
Nowadays, people ask how much money the groom will make, how many material resources and pleasures he will be able to possess, will he settle in a foreign country and many other such questions. Likewise, the parents of the groom have their own questions, most of which are also related to material domains. For example, the physical beauty of females has become much more important than their inner beauty which means the beauty of their minds. Hence people are willing to settle for less in the field of inner beauty; if they’re able to get a physically beautiful bride. Physical beauty falls under material domain. Likewise, people may be interested in how much money the female will make instead of being interested in how loving and caring she may be.
Most questions asked by both sides in present times don’t belong to the domain of the mind and they belong to material domain. Hence it is unfair to assess the wellbeing of a marriage using the same system. For instance, many females are willing to settle for less mental and emotional compatibility if they’re able to get married to rich males. Likewise, many males are willing to settle for less mental and emotional compatibility, if they are able to get married to beautiful females.
Accordingly, we need to shift our focus away from Moon and towards the planets which are capable of blessing us with the results we are looking for. There are planets like Sun, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn which can bless you with money, wealth, beauty, luxuries, authority, fame, reputation, success, bravery, courage, intellect, planning, dutifulness, intelligence, creativity and many other such things. A number of people in present times wish that their partners should possess some of these attributes.
Therefore, in the present times; horoscope matching should be done; by considering all aspects which may be generally important according to the need of present times; or they may be specifically important. Looking at the term ‘specifically important’; the parents of a female may want that their daughter should get married to someone who may permanently settle abroad so that their daughter may also settle abroad. It this case, if the horoscope of the male indicates that he may become a foreign citizen in the future; it is a specifically beneficial as well as important factor.
Hence horoscope matching should be done by taking all these factors into consideration. When Gun Milaan is the only system which is practiced to predict the outcomes of a marriage in present times; the accuracy of predictions may be questionable in most cases. Even if a concept like Manglik Dosh is considered along with Gun Milaan, it is not sufficient. The entire horoscopes should be matched properly, generally as well as specifically; to obtain maximum benefits from the process of horoscope matching.
Coming to the end, it should be kept in mind that the system of Gun Milaan is still an important aspect of horoscope matching; though it is not the only aspect. Taking an example, if the process of horoscope matching is attempted like a question paper; the section of Gun Milaan may carry 10 out of 100 marks. This makes it an important section but not the only section which should be attempted. Hence Gun Milaan should be considered as a part of the process called horoscope matching and it should not be considered as the entire process itself.
Himanshu Shangari