What kundli milan checks
Kundli milan compares the birth charts of two people across eight categories, or kootas, each worth a set number of points: Varna (1), Vashya (2), Tara (3), Yoni (4), Graha Maitri (5), Gana (6), Bhakoot (7) and Nadi (8), for a total of 36. Many families treat 18 or more as acceptable, though astrologers use different bands, and Nadi is usually given the most weight.
For many families, matching kundlis is about much more than prediction. It's a ritual that brings two families together, a way to choose an auspicious date, and a source of reassurance. Those things have real value. This article is only about one question: what can it actually tell you about the biology of your future children?
Nadi dosha: the part about children's health
Each person is assigned one of three Nadis (Aadi, Madhya or Antya) based on the nakshatra the Moon was in at their birth. If both partners have the same Nadi, the couple scores zero out of eight, which is called Nadi dosha. Tradition says this affects the couple's health and the wellbeing of their children.
Here's the problem. Nadi comes from when you were born, not from anything in your blood or genes. With 27 nakshatras divided evenly into three Nadis, about one in three random couples will share a Nadi just by chance. Claims that Nadi reflects blood groups or genetic compatibility appear on blogs, but we found no scientific study supporting them.
If a family's real worry is the health of future children, the check that actually measures that is a carrier screen, which we cover below.
What happens when astrology is put to the test
We found no published study that tests kundli milan scores, or Nadi, against children's health or marriage outcomes. But researchers have tested astrology's predictions in other careful ways:
- Nature, 1985. In a double-blind test, 28 astrologers tried to match people's birth charts to their personality profiles. They expected to score at least 50%; they scored about one in three, the same as guessing.
- Current Science, 2009 (India). Researchers led by astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar gave astrologers 200 horoscopes: 100 of academically bright children and 100 of children with intellectual disabilities. The astrologers who took part did no better than chance at telling them apart.
- Michigan marriage records, 1971. A study of marriages and divorces found that couples with "compatible" sun signs were no more likely to marry, or less likely to divorce, than "incompatible" ones.
- Ten million marriages, 2007. An analysis of about 10 million married couples in the 2001 census of England and Wales found no star-sign pairing more common than chance once recording errors were removed.
None of this says anything bad about the families who use kundli. It simply means a birth chart can't see the things that decide whether a child inherits a genetic condition.
What each pre-marriage check can actually see
| Check | Looks at | Tells you if you're related? | Finds shared genetic conditions? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kundli milan | Date, time and place of birth | No | No |
| Gotra check | The father's lineage name | Partly, father's line only (why) | No |
| Family knowledge | What relatives remember | Partly; misses adoptions, donors and lost records | Only conditions the family already knows about |
| DNA relatedness check | Hundreds of thousands of markers in both partners' DNA | Yes, across every family line | No |
| Carrier screening | The genes for hundreds of inherited conditions | Not designed for it | Yes |
The check that actually protects children
Most people carry a few silent genetic variants. They're harmless to the carrier. But if both partners carry a variant for the same condition, each pregnancy has a 1 in 4 chance that the child inherits two copies and is affected.
- The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics recommends offering carrier screening to everyone who is pregnant or planning a pregnancy.
- In a large study of 9,107 couples, about 2 in 100 were found to be at increased risk of having a child with a serious condition.
- Most affected children are born to couples with no known family history, which is why family knowledge alone isn't enough.
In India, this matters especially for thalassemia. An estimated 3.5–4% of Indians carry beta-thalassemia trait, rising above 10% in some communities, and around 10,000–12,000 babies are born with the disease each year. A simple blood test for both partners finds it. Here's how other countries tackled it.
Keep the kundli. Add the DNA.
Many families will keep matching horoscopes for cultural and family reasons, and that's their choice. We're not asking anyone to give up a tradition. We're suggesting two checks that measure the biology:
- A DNA relatedness check, if there's any chance you share family, from either side.
- A couples carrier check, for every couple planning children, related or not.
Match the stars if you like. Match the genes either way.
Sources
- Drik Panchang: Kundali matching (how Ashtakoota scoring works)
- Carlson S. A double-blind test of astrology. Nature 318:419–425 (1985)
- Narlikar JV et al. A statistical test of astrology. Current Science 96(5):641–643 (2009)
- Summary of sun-sign compatibility studies, including Silverman (1971) and Voas (2007)
- Voas D. Ten million marriages: a test of astrological "love signs" (University of Manchester, 2007)
- Gregg AR et al. Screening for autosomal recessive and X-linked conditions: ACMG practice resource. Genetics in Medicine (2021)
- Kirk EP et al. Reproductive carrier screening in 9,107 couples (Mackenzie's Mission). NEJM (2024)
- Henneman L et al. Responsible implementation of expanded carrier screening (ESHG). Eur J Hum Genet (2016)
- Colah R et al. Global burden, distribution and prevention of β-thalassemias in India (2014)