Vashya Koota in Kundli Matching: 2 Points, 5 Groups, Score Table

If two kundali calculators have ever handed you two different totals for the same couple, there is a good chance vashya koota is where the half-point went missing. It is worth 2 gunas of 36, it sorts the twelve rashis into five odd-sounding groups — quadruped, human, aquatic, wild and insect — and the tradition genuinely disagrees about where two of the signs belong.

This page prints the complete 12×12 score grid, names both competing conventions, and shows the one cell in the whole table that behaves differently depending on which partner you put on which side.

What vashya koota is measuring

Vashya (वश्य) means “under one’s control” — the older translation is closer to natural sway or magnetism than to domination. The koota asks whether the two Moon signs belong to categories that hold each other’s attention, and it is the second of the eight kootas, carrying 2 of 36 gunas.

Unlike Varna, which is all-or-nothing, this one has a full fractional scale. A pair can score 2, 1, 0.5 or 0. That fractional 0.5 is unique to this koota in the Sahita engine and it is exactly where calculators drift apart — see why app scores and astrologer scores differ for the wider pattern.

Like Varna, Bhakoot and Graha Maitri, vashya koota is read from the janma rashi — the Moon sign at birth — and nothing else. No nakshatra, no pada, no Lagna. Get both Moon signs right and the rest is table lookup. Our Ashta Koota matching guide shows how all eight fit together.

The five vashya groups — and the argument over two signs

Nine of the twelve rashis are uncontroversial. Mesha and Vrishabha are Chatushpada (quadruped). Mithuna, Kanya, Tula and Kumbha are Manava (human). Karka and Meena are Jalachara (aquatic). Simha alone is Vanachara (wild beast). Vrischika alone is Keeta (insect). Nobody disputes any of that.

The argument is about Dhanu and Makara, both of which are composite figures. Dhanu is a centaur — human above, horse below. Makara is the crocodile-goat. The classical convention splits them at the halfway mark; most modern software, including AstroSage and Sahita, assigns each sign whole.

Group	Meaning	Classical (half-sign) convention	Sahita / AstroSage (whole-sign)
Chatushpada	Quadruped	Mesha, Vrishabha, Dhanu 2nd half, Makara 1st half	Mesha, Vrishabha
Manava	Human	Mithuna, Kanya, Tula, Kumbha, Dhanu 1st half	Mithuna, Kanya, Tula, Kumbha, Dhanu
Jalachara	Aquatic	Karka, Meena, Makara 2nd half	Karka, Meena, Makara
Vanachara	Wild beast	Simha	Simha
Keeta	Insect	Vrischika	Vrischika

Sahita follows the whole-sign column, and that is a checked decision rather than a shortcut. Two AstroSage benchmark reports were used to settle it: a Makara groom with a Kanya bride returns 0.5, and a Makara groom with a Kumbha bride also returns 0.5. Both results are only possible if Makara is read as Jalachara throughout.

The group-by-group score matrix

Once each partner has a group, the score comes from a 5×5 lookup. Read the row for the groom’s group and the column for the bride’s. Same group always scores the full 2 — and so does an identical rashi, which short-circuits the table.

Groom ↓ / Bride →	Chatushpada	Manava	Jalachara	Vanachara	Keeta
Chatushpada groom	2	1	1	0	1
Manava groom	1	2	0.5	0	1
Jalachara groom	1	0.5	2	1	1
Vanachara groom	0	0	0	2	0
Keeta groom	1	1	1	0	2

Two things to notice. First, the only 0.5 in the entire matrix is the Manava-Jalachara pairing — human and aquatic, in either direction. Second, the matrix is symmetric everywhere except one cell: a Jalachara groom with a Vanachara bride scores 1, while a Vanachara groom with a Jalachara bride scores 0.

The complete 12×12 vashya koota grid

This is the table almost nobody publishes. Expand the five groups back out to the twelve rashis and every possible pair has a number. Find the groom’s Moon sign down the left, the bride’s along the top, and read off the guna.

Groom ↓ / Bride →	Mesha	Vrisha	Mithuna	Karka	Simha	Kanya	Tula	Vrisch	Dhanu	Makara	Kumbha	Meena
Mesha	2	2	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Vrishabha	2	2	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Mithuna	1	1	2	0.5	0	2	2	1	2	0.5	2	0.5
Karka	1	1	0.5	2	1	0.5	0.5	1	0.5	2	0.5	2
Simha	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kanya	1	1	2	0.5	0	2	2	1	2	0.5	2	0.5
Tula	1	1	2	0.5	0	2	2	1	2	0.5	2	0.5
Vrischika	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	2	1	1	1	1
Dhanu	1	1	2	0.5	0	2	2	1	2	0.5	2	0.5
Makara	1	1	0.5	2	1	0.5	0.5	1	0.5	2	0.5	2
Kumbha	1	1	2	0.5	0	2	2	1	2	0.5	2	0.5
Meena	1	1	0.5	2	1	0.5	0.5	1	0.5	2	0.5	2

Across all 144 combinations: 40 score the full 2, 55 score 1, 30 score 0.5 and 19 score 0. So a little over a quarter of couples get full marks here, and only about 13 per cent score nothing. To see the same number computed from your own birth details, open Sahita on Google Play — it runs offline.

Every zero in the grid involves Simha

Count the zeros in the table above and you get 19. Now check which rashis they belong to: all 19 involve Simha, on one side or the other. There is not a single zero anywhere else in the vashya koota grid.

The reason is Vanachara. Simha is the lion, the only wild beast among the twelve, and the classical matrix gives the wild-beast row nothing against any other group. A Simha groom scores 0 against eleven of the twelve rashis — everyone except a Simha bride.

As a bride, Simha does slightly better. She scores 1 against the three aquatic signs — Karka, Makara and Meena — and 2 against a Simha groom, and 0 against the other eight. That one-way concession by the water signs is the single asymmetric cell mentioned earlier.

• Simha groom: 0 with everyone except a Simha bride (2).
• Simha bride: 1 with Karka, Makara and Meena grooms; 2 with a Simha groom; 0 with the rest.
• Everyone else: a floor of 0.5, never 0.

Three worked examples

Groom Tula, bride Mithuna — 2 of 2

Tula is Manava and Mithuna is Manava, so both partners sit in the human group. Same group, full marks: 2 of 2. This is the most common way to score full vashya, because Manava is the largest group — five rashis under the whole-sign convention.

Groom Makara, bride Kanya — 0.5 of 2

Makara is Jalachara in the Sahita engine; Kanya is Manava. Jalachara against Manava is the lone 0.5 cell, so this pair scores half a point. Under the older half-sign convention, a groom born in the first half of Makara would be Chatushpada instead, and the same couple would score 1. This is the half-point gap between calculators.

Groom Simha, bride Karka — 0 of 2

Vanachara groom, Jalachara bride: 0 of 2. Now flip the charts. Karka groom, Simha bride is Jalachara against Vanachara, which scores 1. Same two rashis, different answer, purely because of which partner holds which chart — and it is the only place in vashya koota where that happens.

Why two calculators give different vashya scores

There are three real causes, and none of them is a bug. Knowing which one is in play usually ends the argument in the living room within a minute.

Cause	What changes	Size of the gap
Half-sign vs whole-sign Dhanu and Makara	Group membership for those two rashis only	Usually 0.5, sometimes 1
Site rounds 0.5 up to 1	Displayed vashya and the 36-guna total	0.5
Different Moon sign entirely	Ayanamsa or birth-time difference moves the Moon	Up to 2, and every other rashi koota too

The third is the one worth chasing. If your vashya differs and so does Bhakoot or Graha Maitri, the disagreement is not about vashya at all — one of the two tools has put a Moon in a different sign. Our complete guna milan score breakdown shows which kootas move together when that happens.

Is there such a thing as vashya dosha?

Not in the classical sense. A dosha is a defect with a named cancellation rule attached — Nadi, Bhakoot and Gana each have one. Vashya has none, and no standard text prescribes a vashya remedy. A 0 here costs 2 points, leaving 34 of 36 available.

What it does flag, in the language of Vedic astrology, is a mismatch in how the two temperaments hold each other’s attention — one partner pulling, the other not following. Astrologers who take it seriously read it alongside Graha Maitri and Yoni rather than on its own, and Sahita on Google Play prints all three side by side.

The practical test is simple: if vashya is 0 but Nadi, Bhakoot and Gana are all clean, the match is in good shape. If vashya is 0 and the big kootas are also failing, vashya is not your problem. Compare with Yoni koota in kundali matching, which carries twice the weight.

Where vashya sits in the 36-guna system

Vashya is the second-lightest koota. Only Varna, at 1 point, weighs less. The Ashtakoota weights run 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, which means the four nakshatra-based kootas and Bhakoot together account for 28 of the 36 available gunas.

That ladder is the honest context for any vashya result. A couple losing all of vashya still has 34 points on the table, comfortably above the 18-point threshold most families use. For the history of how the eight were assembled, see Ashtakoota milan and the 8 kutas.

South Indian families using the ten-porutham method will meet the same idea under the name Vasya porutham, with a pass-or-fail verdict instead of a fractional score. 36 guna milan explained covers how the two systems line up, and the free Sahita app computes both.

Check your own vashya koota

You can read your score straight off the 12×12 grid above, provided you are certain of both Moon signs. That certainty is the catch — the Moon changes rashi roughly every two and a quarter days, and a birth near a boundary needs an accurate time to resolve.

Our free kundali matching tool takes birth details for both partners, resolves both Moon signs, and prints vashya koota with its group names alongside the other seven kootas. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded anywhere.

For the full report with Manglik for both partners and a shareable result screen, Sahita is free on Google Play — offline, no login, eleven Indian languages. If you want the whole system in one read, start with our gun milan Ashtakoota guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is vashya koota in kundli matching?

It is the second of the eight kootas, worth 2 gunas of 36. Each partner’s Moon sign is placed in one of five groups — Chatushpada, Manava, Jalachara, Vanachara or Keeta — and a 5×5 lookup returns 2, 1, 0.5 or 0. Same group, or the same rashi, always scores the full 2.

Why does vasya koota show 0.5 on some reports?

Because one partner is Manava (human) and the other is Jalachara (aquatic). That is the only pairing in the entire matrix that returns half a point. Some websites round it up to 1 and some round it down to 0, which is why the same couple can see three different vashya figures across three sites.

Which rashi is Keeta and which is Vanachara?

Vrischika (Scorpio) is the only Keeta or insect sign. Simha (Leo) is the only Vanachara or wild-beast sign. Both are single-member groups, and neither is disputed. Sites that place Vrischika in Jalachara because scorpions live near water are following no classical source we could find.

Is a 0 in vashya koota a dosha?

No. Vashya has no dosha status and no cancellation rule in the classical texts, unlike Nadi, Bhakoot and Gana. Losing all of it costs 2 points, leaving 34 of 36 in play, which is still far above the 18-point threshold most families treat as the minimum for a marriage.

Why is Simha the only sign that scores zero?

Simha is the sole Vanachara sign, and the classical matrix gives the wild-beast group nothing against any other group. All 19 zeros in the 144-cell grid involve Simha. A Simha groom scores 0 against every bride except another Simha; a Simha bride scores 1 against the three aquatic signs.

Where do Dhanu and Makara actually belong?

Both conventions are defensible. The older texts split them: Dhanu’s first half is Manava and its second half Chatushpada, while Makara’s first half is Chatushpada and its second half Jalachara. Sahita and AstroSage assign each sign whole — Dhanu as Manava, Makara as Jalachara — and two AstroSage benchmark reports confirm it.

Related reading: The Ashta Koota matching guide · App score vs astrologer score · What your guna milan score really means