Among the eight kootas of Ashtakoota, Bhakoot koota carries 7 points, making it the second-heaviest koota after Nadi.

How Bhakoot Dosha forms

Bhakoot Dosha is determined by the distance between the two people’s Moon signs. If the groom’s and bride’s rashis sit in a 6-8 or 2-12 relationship to each other, Bhakoot Dosha is considered present. The full Ashtakoota system is explained in the 8-koota guide.

Why it’s linked to progeny

Tradition connects Bhakoot Dosha with marital happiness, financial stability, and having children, which is why it’s treated as significant even when the other kootas score well.

Cancellation rules

  • If both rashis share the same ruling planet, the dosha is traditionally considered cancelled
  • If the two rashis are in a friendly (maitri) relationship with each other, the effect is considered milder
  • As with Nadi Dosha, different traditions apply slightly different cancellation rules for Bhakoot too

General rashi-level compatibility

The general compatibility between any two rashis, based on ruling-planet friendship and element, can be browsed in the rashi compatibility guide, a broader, quicker-to-grasp view than the exact Bhakoot calculation.

Check your own chart

A precise analysis of all eight kootas, Bhakoot included, is available on the kundli matching tool once you enter birth details.

A worked example of the count

The math is easier to see with real signs. Mesha (Aries) and Kanya (Virgo) form a 6-8 pair: counting inclusively from Mesha through Kanya (Mesha, Vrishabha, Mithuna, Karka, Simha, Kanya) is 6 signs, and counting the rest of the way around from Kanya back to Mesha is 8 signs. Any two adjacent rashis, say Mesha and Vrishabha, form a 2-12 pair instead: 2 signs counting Mesha and Vrishabha together, and 12 signs counting all the way around the zodiac back to Mesha the long way. If you know both partners’ moon signs, you can count this out by hand in under a minute rather than treating it as a black box.

How common this actually is

Every rashi has exactly two other signs that put it in a 6-8 relationship, and two adjacent signs that put it in a 2-12 relationship, out of eleven possible different-sign partners. That works out to roughly one in three random sign pairings running into some form of Bhakoot Dosha, which is one reason it shows up in reports more often than families expect, and why the cancellation rules (same ruling planet, friendly signs) matter as much as the initial flag itself.

A note on the fifth relationship some traditions flag

A handful of traditions also flag a 5-9 relationship (for example Mesha and Simha) as a milder version of the same concern, on top of the standard 6-8 and 2-12. This is not universal, some regional schools count only 6-8 and 2-12 as true Bhakoot Dosha and treat 5-9 as neutral or even favorable since it can indicate shared temperament. If a report or family astrologer mentions a 5-9 flag, it’s worth asking which convention they’re using rather than assuming it carries the same weight as a 6-8. Mesha and Simha is a real example of a 5-9 pair: counting inclusively, Mesha to Simha is 5 signs, and the way back around is 9.

The final call is the family’s

Having Bhakoot Dosha is not an automatic no. Weigh it alongside the fuller picture covered in doshas and their remedies.