Tara Koota in Kundli Matching: 3 Points, Calculation & Tara Dosha

Here is something you will not find on any other page about tara koota: under the rules the Sahita engine uses, a score of 0 is arithmetically impossible. Every couple in the zodiac gets either the full 3 gunas or exactly 1.5 — never nothing. That is not an opinion, it falls out of the counting rule itself, and this page shows you why in a single table.

Along the way you get the nine taras by name, the count-and-divide-by-nine method worked in both directions, the 27 nakshatras numbered for counting, and an honest answer to whether 1.5 is a dosha.

What tara koota measures, in one paragraph

Tara (तारा) means star. This koota is scored entirely from the two birth nakshatras, carries 3 of the 36 gunas, and is the third of the eight. In older texts and in South Indian practice you will also see it called Dina koota or Dina porutham, because it governs how each partner’s days run when measured from the other’s star.

What it is testing is fortune and wellbeing — whether the bride’s star sits in a favourable position counted from the groom’s, and the groom’s from the bride’s. Both directions matter, and that symmetry is what produces the result at the top of this page. If you need your birth star first, see how to find your nakshatra from your date of birth.

Because it uses only the nakshatras, tara koota is one of four kootas — with Yoni, Gana and Nadi — that ignore the rashi entirely. Together those four carry 21 of the 36 points. The Ashta Koota matching guide lays out the full split, and Sahita on Google Play computes all eight offline.

The calculation, step by step

There are four steps and no ambiguity in any of them, provided you count the way the classical rule counts — inclusively, starting the count at 1 on the starting star itself.

1. Count forward from the groom’s nakshatra to the bride’s, including both ends. Wrap past Revati back to Ashwini if you have to.
2. Divide that count by 9 and keep the remainder. A remainder of 0 counts as 9.
3. Repeat in reverse: count forward from the bride’s nakshatra to the groom’s, divide by 9, keep the remainder.
4. Look both remainders up in the tara table. Both auspicious scores 3, one auspicious scores 1.5, neither scores 0.

The single most common mistake is counting exclusively — starting at 0 on the first star. That shifts every tara by one and gives the wrong name to each direction. The final score often survives the error by luck, because the arithmetic is symmetric, but the labels on the report will be wrong.

The nine taras and which three are the problem

The remainder maps to one of nine taras. Six are treated as auspicious and three are not. The three inauspicious ones are the 3rd, the 5th and the 7th, and their names carry the meaning: danger, opposition and destruction.

Remainder	Tara	Also written	Meaning	Verdict
1	Janma	—	Birth, the star itself	Auspicious
2	Sampat	Sampad	Wealth, gain	Auspicious
3	Vipat	Vipad	Danger, loss	Inauspicious
4	Kshema	Kshem	Wellbeing, safety	Auspicious
5	Pratyari	Pratyak	Obstruction, adversary	Inauspicious
6	Sadhana	Sadhaka	Accomplishment	Auspicious
7	Vadha	Naidhana	Destruction, ending	Inauspicious
8	Mitra	—	Friend	Auspicious
9	Parama Mitra	Ati-mitra	Best friend	Auspicious

Names vary by region and by translator, which is why the “also written” column is there. Vipat and Vipad are the same tara; so are Pratyari and Pratyak; so are Vadha and Naidhana. If a report uses one set and your family astrologer uses the other, nothing has changed but the spelling.

The 27 nakshatras, numbered for counting

To count by hand you need the standard order. Here it is, with the numbers you subtract. Take the bride’s number minus the groom’s, add 27 if the answer is negative, then add 1 — that is your forward inclusive count.

#	Nakshatra	#	Nakshatra	#	Nakshatra
1	Ashwini	10	Magha	19	Moola
2	Bharani	11	Purva Phalguni	20	Purva Ashadha
3	Krittika	12	Uttara Phalguni	21	Uttara Ashadha
4	Rohini	13	Hasta	22	Shravana
5	Mrigashira	14	Chitra	23	Dhanishta
6	Ardra	15	Swati	24	Shatabhisha
7	Punarvasu	16	Vishakha	25	Purva Bhadrapada
8	Pushya	17	Anuradha	26	Uttara Bhadrapada
9	Ashlesha	18	Jyeshtha	27	Revati

Why tara koota can never score 0

Now the finding. The forward count and the reverse count are not independent — they always add up to 29 for a pair of different stars, and to 2 for the same star. That locks the two taras together in fixed pairs. Once you know the forward tara, the reverse one is already decided.

Forward tara	Reverse tara is always	Both auspicious?	Tara koota score
1 Janma	1 Janma	Yes	3
2 Sampat	9 Parama Mitra	Yes	3
3 Vipat	8 Mitra	No — one only	1.5
4 Kshema	7 Vadha	No — one only	1.5
5 Pratyari	6 Sadhana	No — one only	1.5
6 Sadhana	5 Pratyari	No — one only	1.5
7 Vadha	4 Kshema	No — one only	1.5
8 Mitra	3 Vipat	No — one only	1.5
9 Parama Mitra	2 Sampat	Yes	3

Look at the three bad taras — 3, 5 and 7. Their locked partners are 8, 6 and 4, every one of which is auspicious. So the two directions can never both fail. There is no row in that table where the score is 0, and no pair of nakshatras anywhere in the zodiac can produce one.

Run it across all 729 possible nakshatra pairs and the split is exact: 243 pairs score the full 3, and 486 score 1.5. One third and two thirds. That is the real base rate, and it is the context every 1.5 on a report deserves.

One caveat, stated honestly. This holds under the convention Sahita and AstroSage use, where Janma tara is treated as acceptable. A minority tradition treats Janma as a caution too — under that reading a 0 becomes possible, but only for the 81 pairs whose stars are identical or exactly 9 or 18 apart.

Three worked examples, both directions

Groom Rohini, bride Magha — 1.5 of 3

Forward: Rohini is 4, Magha is 10, so the inclusive count is 10 − 4 + 1 = 7. Seven divided by nine leaves 7, which is Vadha — inauspicious. Reverse: 4 − 10 is negative, so add 27 to get 21, plus 1 makes 22. Twenty-two divided by nine leaves 4, which is Kshema — auspicious. One direction good, one bad: 1.5 of 3.

Groom Bharani, bride Krittika — 3 of 3

Forward: Bharani is 2, Krittika is 3, inclusive count 2, remainder 2 — Sampat, auspicious. Reverse: 2 − 3 is negative, add 27 for 26, plus 1 makes 27. Twenty-seven divided by nine leaves 0, which we read as 9 — Parama Mitra, auspicious. Both directions clear, so the full 3 of 3. Any bride one star ahead of the groom scores this way.

Groom Hasta, bride Uttara Ashadha — 3 of 3

Forward: Hasta is 13, Uttara Ashadha is 21, inclusive count 9, remainder 0 which reads as 9 — Parama Mitra. Reverse: 13 − 21 plus 27 is 19, plus 1 makes 20; twenty divided by nine leaves 2 — Sampat. Both auspicious, full 3. This is the second of the three ways to get full marks.

In fact the whole of tara koota reduces to nine forward counts. Full marks come only when the inclusive forward count is 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, 20 or 27. Every other count returns 1.5. Check yours in the free kundali matching tool, which prints both tara names.

Is 1.5 a tara dosha?

This is where page one of Google contradicts itself, so let us be plain. Two thirds of every possible couple score 1.5. A result that is the statistical norm for two out of three matches is not a defect — it is the default. Calling it a dosha inflates a routine outcome into an alarm.

What some astrologers do call tara dosha is the narrower case where the forward direction specifically lands on Vipat, Pratyari or Vadha — that is, where the bride’s star is unfavourable counted from the groom’s. Even then it is a 1.5-point deduction inside a 36-point system, not a blocking condition.

Compare that with the kootas that genuinely carry dosha status in the Ashtakoota system. Nadi is worth 8 points and has three named cancellations. Bhakoot is worth 7 and has its own. Gana is worth 6. Tara has neither the weight nor a cancellation rule in the standard texts, which tells you how the tradition itself ranked it. You can see all eight weighted correctly on the free Sahita app on Google Play.

The cancellation people quote, and what it is worth

The rule you will hear is that an unfavourable tara is set aside when the two rashi lords are the same planet, or natural friends. It is the same logic that cancels Bhakoot dosha, borrowed sideways, and several regional traditions do apply it here.

Be honest about its status. It has no verse reference that we could trace in the standard matching literature, and the Sahita engine does not add points back for it — the koota still displays 1.5 of 3. The friendship of the two lords is already scored in full, separately, as Graha Maitri koota.

So if your astrologer raises it, the substance is real: friendly rashi lords are a genuine positive, and you can read that off Graha Maitri directly. Ask him whether he is adding it twice. Sahita, free on Google Play, prints both kootas on the same screen so the double-count is visible.

Why two calculators disagree on tara

Three causes account for nearly every discrepancy, and they are easy to tell apart once you know the tara names each site reports.

Cause	Symptom	Effect on the score
Exclusive counting (starting at 0)	Every tara name shifted by one	Often none, but the labels are wrong
Janma treated as inauspicious	Same-star couples drop to 0	Up to 3 points, for 81 pairs only
Per-direction 1.5 scoring	Report shows 1.5 + 1.5 as separate halves	None — same total, different presentation
Different nakshatra entirely	Yoni, Gana and Nadi also differ	Everything nakshatra-based moves

The last row is the one to check first. If tara disagrees on its own, it is a convention difference and harmless. If tara, Yoni, Gana and Nadi all disagree together, one of the two tools has resolved a different birth star — usually an ayanamsa or birth-time issue. See the complete guna milan score breakdown for how the eight move together.

Tara koota when both partners share a nakshatra

Same star both ways gives an inclusive count of 1 in each direction, remainder 1, Janma tara on both sides. Under the Sahita convention both are auspicious, so a same-nakshatra couple scores the full 3 of 3 here — which surprises families who expect the opposite.

The real question for such a couple is not tara at all. Sharing a birth star means sharing a nadi and usually a gana, which puts 8 points and 6 points respectively at risk. Our page on same nakshatra marriage works through what actually matters there.

The same is true of stars exactly 9 or 18 apart — Ashwini and Magha, say. Those pairs score full tara marks, because 9 and 18 both leave a remainder that reads as Janma. It is a good reminder that a strong tara tells you nothing about the heavier kootas. See 36 guna milan explained for the full picture.

Check your own tara koota

If you both know your birth stars you can finish this in thirty seconds with the numbered table above. Subtract, add 27 if negative, add 1, divide by 9, and look up the remainder. Do it once more the other way round and you have your score.

If you are not sure of a nakshatra, that is the step to get right — it needs date, time and place, since the Moon crosses a star boundary roughly every day. The free kundali matching tool resolves both stars and prints tara koota with both direction names, entirely in your browser.

For the full 36-guna report with Manglik for both partners and a shareable result screen, use Sahita, free on Google Play — offline, no login, eleven Indian languages. For background on the eight kootas as a system, read Ashtakoota milan and the 8 kutas.

Frequently asked questions

How is tara koota calculated?

Count inclusively from the groom’s nakshatra to the bride’s among the 27 nakshatras, divide by 9 and keep the remainder, reading 0 as 9. Repeat from the bride’s star back to the groom’s. Remainders 3, 5 and 7 are inauspicious. Both directions auspicious scores 3, one scores 1.5.

Can tara koota score 0?

Not under the convention Sahita and AstroSage use. The forward and reverse taras are locked in fixed pairs — 3 with 8, 5 with 6, 7 with 4 — and each bad tara is always paired with a good one, so both directions can never fail together. Across all 729 nakshatra pairs, 243 score 3 and 486 score 1.5.

Is 1.5 in tara koota a dosha?

No. Two out of every three possible couples score exactly 1.5, so it is the ordinary outcome rather than a defect. Some astrologers use “tara dosha” for the narrower case where the forward count lands on Vipat, Pratyari or Vadha. Even then it costs 1.5 points out of 36 and has no cancellation rule in the standard texts.

What are the nine taras called?

In order: Janma, Sampat, Vipat, Kshema, Pratyari, Sadhana, Vadha, Mitra and Parama Mitra. The third, fifth and seventh — Vipat, Pratyari and Vadha — are the inauspicious ones. You will also see them written Vipad, Pratyak and Naidhana, and Sadhana as Sadhaka; these are spelling variants, not different taras.

Is tara koota the same as dina koota?

Yes, they are the same koota under two names. North Indian Ashtakoota reports usually say Tara; older texts and South Indian ten-porutham practice often say Dina koota or Dina porutham. The counting method is identical. What differs is the scoring — porutham returns a pass or fail rather than 3, 1.5 or 0.

What tara score do same-nakshatra couples get?

The full 3. Both counts come to 1, the remainder is 1, and Janma tara applies in both directions and is treated as auspicious. Stars exactly 9 or 18 apart score full marks for the same reason. For such couples the risk sits in Nadi and Gana instead, which carry 8 and 6 points.

Related reading: The gun milan Ashtakoota guide · Find your nakshatra from your date of birth · Same nakshatra marriage, explained