Graha maitri koota is worth 5 of the 36 gunas, but its real weight is much larger than that, and almost nobody explains why. It is the koota that decides whether a Bhakoot dosha stands or falls — and Bhakoot carries 7 points on its own. Get graha maitri to 4 or above and a 6/8 match stops being a 6/8 problem.
This page prints the full Naisargika friendship table for all seven rashi lords, the complete 12×12 score grid, every asymmetric pair in the table, and a list of all 24 Bhakoot-dosha rashi pairs showing exactly which ones graha maitri cancels.
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Run the free kundali match →What graha maitri koota compares
Graha maitri (ग्रह मैत्री) means planetary friendship. The koota does not compare the two people, or their Moon signs directly. It compares the two lords of those Moon signs — the planet that owns each rashi — and asks how those two planets regard each other in the classical natural-friendship scheme.
It is the fifth of the eight kootas and carries 5 points, making it the heaviest of the four rashi-based kootas after Bhakoot. What it is read as indicating is mental and intellectual affinity — whether the two minds find each other easy company. Our Ashta Koota matching guide sets out all eight.
Two steps, then: find each partner’s rashi lord, then look the pair up in the friendship table twice — once in each direction. If that second sentence sounds redundant, it is not, and the next section is why. Kannada readers can also use our Graha Maitri koota guide in Kannada.
The twelve rashis and their lords
Seven of the navagraha own the twelve signs. Five of them own two signs each; the Sun and the Moon own one apiece. This is why the friendship table is 7×7 and not 9×9 — Rahu and Ketu are shadow points and own no rashi in the scheme this koota uses, so they never enter the calculation. The free Sahita app on Google Play names both lords on the result screen.
| Rashi | Lord | Rashi | Lord |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mesha (Aries) | Mars | Tula (Libra) | Venus |
| Vrishabha (Taurus) | Venus | Vrischika (Scorpio) | Mars |
| Mithuna (Gemini) | Mercury | Dhanu (Sagittarius) | Jupiter |
| Karka (Cancer) | Moon | Makara (Capricorn) | Saturn |
| Simha (Leo) | Sun | Kumbha (Aquarius) | Saturn |
| Kanya (Virgo) | Mercury | Meena (Pisces) | Jupiter |
Because five planets double up, some very different rashi pairs collapse to the same lord pair. Mesha with Meena and Vrischika with Dhanu are both Mars-with-Jupiter, so both score identically here — 5 of 5 — even though the two couples have nothing else in common.
The Naisargika friendship table, in full
This is the table that goes wrong most often online. Read it one row at a time: the row planet is the one doing the regarding, and the column planet is the one being regarded. Saturn’s row says how Saturn treats everyone else, not how everyone treats Saturn.
| Treats ↓ / Planet → | Sun | Moon | Mars | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus | Saturn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | — | Friend | Friend | Neutral | Friend | Enemy | Enemy |
| Moon | Friend | — | Neutral | Friend | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral |
| Mars | Friend | Friend | — | Enemy | Friend | Neutral | Neutral |
| Mercury | Friend | Enemy | Neutral | — | Neutral | Friend | Neutral |
| Jupiter | Friend | Friend | Friend | Enemy | — | Enemy | Neutral |
| Venus | Enemy | Enemy | Neutral | Friend | Neutral | — | Friend |
| Saturn | Enemy | Enemy | Enemy | Friend | Neutral | Friend | — |
A planet paired with itself always scores the full 5, which is why the diagonal is left blank. Makara with Kumbha, for instance, is Saturn with Saturn — 5 of 5, no lookup needed. The same goes for Mesha with Vrischika, Vrishabha with Tula, Mithuna with Kanya and Dhanu with Meena.
The table is asymmetric — check both directions
Here is the detail that half the internet drops. Naisargika friendship is not mutual. Saturn treats Mars as an enemy, while Mars treats Saturn as merely neutral. If you look up only one direction you will get the wrong score in eleven of the twenty-one planet pairs.
| Pair | First treats second as | Second treats first as |
|---|---|---|
| Sun & Mercury | Neutral | Friend |
| Moon & Mars | Neutral | Friend |
| Moon & Mercury | Friend | Enemy |
| Moon & Jupiter | Neutral | Friend |
| Moon & Venus | Neutral | Enemy |
| Moon & Saturn | Neutral | Enemy |
| Mars & Mercury | Enemy | Neutral |
| Mars & Saturn | Neutral | Enemy |
| Mercury & Jupiter | Neutral | Enemy |
| Mercury & Saturn | Neutral | Friend |
| Jupiter & Venus | Enemy | Neutral |
Only one pair in the whole set jumps the full distance from friend to enemy: the Moon and Mercury. The Moon counts Mercury a friend; Mercury counts the Moon an enemy. That single lopsided pair is responsible for a score that appears nowhere else, as you will see in a moment.
The scoring scale
With both directions in hand, the score follows a fixed six-step ladder. This is the scale the Sahita engine uses and it is AstroSage-aligned.
| Both directions | Score | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Same planet, or friend + friend | 5 | Excellent affinity |
| Friend + neutral | 4 | Good |
| Neutral + neutral | 3 | Workable |
| Friend + enemy | 1 | Strained |
| Neutral + enemy | 0.5 | Poor |
| Enemy + enemy | 0 | Opposed |
Notice the oddity: friend-plus-enemy scores 1, which is higher than nothing but lower than two neutrals. The tradition treats an open contradiction as worse than mutual indifference. Because only the Moon-Mercury pair produces it, a score of exactly 1 appears in just 4 of the 144 rashi combinations.
The complete 12×12 graha maitri koota grid
Expand the seven lords back out to the twelve rashis and every couple in the zodiac has a number. Groom’s Moon sign down the left, bride’s along the top. The lord is printed beside each row so you can check the derivation.
| Groom ↓ / Bride → | Mesha | Vrisha | Mithuna | Karka | Simha | Kanya | Tula | Vrisch | Dhanu | Makara | Kumbha | Meena |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mesha (Mars) | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 4 | 5 | 0.5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 5 |
| Vrishabha (Venus) | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0.5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 5 | 5 | 0.5 |
| Mithuna (Mercury) | 0.5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4 | 4 | 0.5 |
| Karka (Moon) | 4 | 0.5 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0.5 | 4 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4 |
| Simha (Sun) | 5 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Kanya (Mercury) | 0.5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4 | 4 | 0.5 |
| Tula (Venus) | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0.5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 5 | 5 | 0.5 |
| Vrischika (Mars) | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 4 | 5 | 0.5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 5 |
| Dhanu (Jupiter) | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Makara (Saturn) | 0.5 | 5 | 4 | 0.5 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0.5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Kumbha (Saturn) | 0.5 | 5 | 4 | 0.5 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0.5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Meena (Jupiter) | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Across the 144 cells: 56 score the full 5, 20 score 4, 16 score 3, 4 score 1, 40 score 0.5 and just 8 score 0. So more than half of all couples clear the threshold that matters most, and outright zeros are rare. Check your own on Sahita, free on Google Play.
All eight zeros involve Simha. Sun is at open enmity with both Venus and Saturn in both directions, and Simha is the only Sun-ruled rashi — so Simha paired with Vrishabha, Tula, Makara or Kumbha is the only way to score nothing in graha maitri koota.
Where graha maitri actually decides a match
Now the part no other page joins up. Bhakoot dosha fires when the two Moon signs stand at 2/12 or 6/8 from each other, and it costs 7 points. The classical cancellation is that the dosha is nullified when the two rashi lords are the same planet or natural friends.
In the Sahita engine that condition is implemented precisely: the same lord, or a graha maitri score of 4 or more, cancels Bhakoot dosha. A 3 does not. So the boundary between a cancelled Bhakoot and a standing one sits exactly on the line between three neutrals and a friend.
There are 24 rashi pairs in the zodiac that carry Bhakoot dosha. Thirteen of them are cancelled by graha maitri. Eleven are not. Here is the whole list — and to our knowledge it has not been published anywhere else.
| Rashi pair | Type | Lords | Graha Maitri | Bhakoot dosha |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mesha & Vrishabha | 2/12 | Mars / Venus | 3 | Stands |
| Mesha & Kanya | 6/8 | Mars / Mercury | 0.5 | Stands |
| Mesha & Vrischika | 6/8 | Mars / Mars | 5 | Cancelled |
| Mesha & Meena | 2/12 | Mars / Jupiter | 5 | Cancelled |
| Vrishabha & Mithuna | 2/12 | Venus / Mercury | 5 | Cancelled |
| Vrishabha & Tula | 6/8 | Venus / Venus | 5 | Cancelled |
| Vrishabha & Dhanu | 6/8 | Venus / Jupiter | 0.5 | Stands |
| Mithuna & Karka | 2/12 | Mercury / Moon | 1 | Stands |
| Mithuna & Vrischika | 6/8 | Mercury / Mars | 0.5 | Stands |
| Mithuna & Makara | 6/8 | Mercury / Saturn | 4 | Cancelled |
| Karka & Simha | 2/12 | Moon / Sun | 5 | Cancelled |
| Karka & Dhanu | 6/8 | Moon / Jupiter | 4 | Cancelled |
| Karka & Kumbha | 6/8 | Moon / Saturn | 0.5 | Stands |
| Simha & Kanya | 2/12 | Sun / Mercury | 4 | Cancelled |
| Simha & Makara | 6/8 | Sun / Saturn | 0 | Stands |
| Simha & Meena | 6/8 | Sun / Jupiter | 5 | Cancelled |
| Kanya & Tula | 2/12 | Mercury / Venus | 5 | Cancelled |
| Kanya & Kumbha | 6/8 | Mercury / Saturn | 4 | Cancelled |
| Tula & Vrischika | 2/12 | Venus / Mars | 3 | Stands |
| Tula & Meena | 6/8 | Venus / Jupiter | 0.5 | Stands |
| Vrischika & Dhanu | 2/12 | Mars / Jupiter | 5 | Cancelled |
| Dhanu & Makara | 2/12 | Jupiter / Saturn | 3 | Stands |
| Makara & Kumbha | 2/12 | Saturn / Saturn | 5 | Cancelled |
| Kumbha & Meena | 2/12 | Saturn / Jupiter | 3 | Stands |
One warning, because it is the most misread line on any report: a cancelled Bhakoot dosha still displays 0 of 7. The cancellation removes the traditional ill effect and the verdict line says so, but the points are not restored. Our page on Bhakoot dosha cancellation works through why, and Sahita on Google Play prints the score and the verdict on the same screen.
Three worked examples
Groom Makara, bride Kumbha — 5 of 5
Both rashis are ruled by Saturn. Same lord, so the full 5 with no table lookup. This pair is also a 2/12 Bhakoot dosha, and the same-lord condition cancels it. Note what that means in practice: this couple loses all 7 Bhakoot points and still has the dosha nullified.
Groom Mesha, bride Makara — 0.5 of 5
Mesha’s lord is Mars, Makara’s is Saturn. Mars treats Saturn as neutral. Saturn treats Mars as an enemy. Neutral plus enemy scores 0.5. This is the pair the brief at the top warned about — check only the Mars row and you would call it neutral-neutral and award 3.
Groom Karka, bride Kanya — 1 of 5
Karka’s lord is the Moon, Kanya’s is Mercury. The Moon treats Mercury as a friend; Mercury treats the Moon as an enemy. Friend plus enemy scores 1 — the rarest result in the grid, occurring only here and in the three other Moon-Mercury combinations.
Is there a graha maitri dosha?
Not in the classical sense. Graha maitri has no dosha status and no cancellation rule of its own — it is the thing that cancels something else. A low score costs points and nothing more, and the maximum loss is 5 of 36.
What a low score genuinely tells you is worth hearing, though, because it is the koota with the most obvious real-world reading. Two rashi lords at enmity is the tradition’s way of describing two people whose default mental settings do not naturally agree — not hostility, but effort where others have ease.
The practical consequence is the Bhakoot link above. If your Moon signs are 2/12 or 6/8 apart, graha maitri stops being a 5-point koota and becomes a 12-point question. That is the one situation where it is worth checking carefully rather than glancing at. See the complete guna milan score breakdown for the arithmetic.
Check your own graha maitri koota
By hand it is three lookups: each partner’s rashi lord from the first table, then the friendship table twice, then the six-step scale. Or read the answer straight off the 12×12 grid if you are confident about both Moon signs.
That confidence is the weak point. The Moon changes rashi every two and a quarter days or so, and a birth near a boundary flips the lord entirely — which can swing graha maitri koota by the full 5 points and take Bhakoot with it. Our free kundali matching tool resolves both Moon signs from birth details.
It prints both lords by name, the friendship in each direction, the score, and whether that score cancels Bhakoot — all in your browser, nothing uploaded. For the full report with Manglik for both partners, Sahita is free on Google Play: offline, no login, eleven Indian languages.
If you want the wider system, 36 guna milan explained covers all eight kootas end to end, our gun milan Ashtakoota guide covers how families read the totals, and Ashtakoota milan and the 8 kutas covers where the Ashtakoota scheme came from.
Frequently asked questions
What is graha maitri koota in kundli matching?
It is the fifth of the eight kootas, worth 5 gunas of 36. It compares the lords of the two Moon signs using the classical Naisargika friendship table, checking both directions, and scores 5, 4, 3, 1, 0.5 or 0. It is read as an indicator of mental and intellectual affinity between the partners.
Why is the friendship table asymmetric?
Because Naisargika friendship is derived from each planet’s own position relative to the others, so it is genuinely one-sided in eleven of the twenty-one pairs. Saturn treats Mars as an enemy while Mars treats Saturn as neutral. The Moon treats Mercury as a friend while Mercury treats the Moon as an enemy. Both directions must be checked.
Does graha maitri cancel Bhakoot dosha?
Yes, when the two rashi lords are the same planet or natural friends. In the Sahita engine that is implemented as a graha maitri score of 4 or above; a 3 is not enough. Of the 24 rashi pairs that carry Bhakoot dosha, thirteen are cancelled this way and eleven are not.
Why does the table have 7 planets and not 9?
Because only seven planets own rashis in the scheme this koota uses. Rahu and Ketu are shadow points with no sign lordship of their own, so they can never be a rashi lord and never enter graha maitri. Any site showing a 9×9 friendship table for this koota has added two rows the calculation does not use.
Which rashi pairs score 0 in graha maitri?
Only eight of the 144 combinations, and every one involves Simha. The Sun is at mutual enmity with both Venus and Saturn, and Simha is the only Sun-ruled sign — so Simha with Vrishabha, Tula, Makara or Kumbha, in either direction, is the complete list of zeros.
What does a score of 1 mean?
It means one lord counts the other a friend while that other counts the first an enemy — an open contradiction, which the tradition rates below two neutrals. Only the Moon and Mercury produce it, so a 1 appears in just four of the 144 rashi combinations: Karka paired with Mithuna or Kanya, either way round.
Related reading: Bhakoot dosha cancellation rules · The Ashta Koota matching guide · What your guna milan score really means
