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Matrimony and jyotish glossary
74 terms from the world of Indian matchmaking — the kootas, the birth chart, the rishta, the wedding, the NRI paperwork, and the features on TrueSaath — each defined in a minute's reading.
Kundli matching
Guna Milan — The 36-point horoscope-matching system used across North and West In…Ashtakoota — The eight kootas of Guna Milan — literally "eight groups" — that tog…Koota — One of the eight categories of Guna Milan, each scoring a different …Varna — The one-point koota that compares the two moon signs' spiritual and …Vashya — The two-point koota reading how naturally two people influence and d…Tara — The three-point koota that counts the distance between the two birth…Yoni — The four-point koota comparing the two birth stars' animal symbols f…Graha Maitri — The five-point koota reading the friendship between the two moon sig…Gana — The six-point koota comparing temperament: Deva, Manushya or Rakshas…Bhakoot — The seven-point koota reading the relative positions of the two moon…Bhakoot dosha — A zero on the Bhakoot koota, from two moon signs in an inauspicious …Nadi — The eight-point koota, heaviest of all, traditionally tied to health…Nadi dosha — The zero on Nadi that comes from both partners sharing the same nadi…Manglik — A person whose chart places Mars in certain houses — Mangal dosha — …Mangal dosha — The chart condition — Mars in particular houses — that makes a perso…Kundli — A Vedic birth chart: the positions of the planets at the moment and …Horoscope matching — Comparing two birth charts for marriage — the general term for Guna …Porutham — The South Indian system of ten compatibility checks between two birt…Remedies — The rituals, gemstones, fasts and pujas an astrologer may prescribe …
Jyotish and the birth chart
Nakshatra — One of the 27 lunar mansions the moon passes through; a person's bir…Pada — One of the four quarters of a nakshatra, each 3°20′, with its own na…Rashi — The moon sign: the zodiac sign the moon occupied at birth, from Mesh…Lagna — The ascendant: the sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment …Navamsa — The ninth divisional chart, traditionally the one read for marriage.Dasha — A planetary period in Vedic astrology; the Vimshottari dasha system …Ayanamsa — The correction between the tropical zodiac of Western astrology and …Birth time — The clock time of birth, needed for an accurate lagna, pada and mang…Naming syllable — The syllable a baby's name traditionally begins with, fixed by the n…
Matrimony and the rishta
Gotra — A patrilineal lineage traced to an ancient rishi; most Hindu communi…Sagotra — Of the same gotra; a sagotra match is one many families rule out.Rishta — A marriage proposal or prospective match, and the word for the relat…Biodata — The one- or two-page summary of a prospective bride or groom that fa…Arranged marriage — A marriage in which the families find and vet the match; the couple …Love-cum-arranged marriage — A match the couple found themselves and the families then took up as…NRI — Non-Resident Indian: an Indian citizen living abroad, and loosely an…OCI — Overseas Citizen of India: the lifelong visa-and-rights status for p…Permanent residency — The right to live and work in a country indefinitely without citizen…Visa status — Whether a person abroad is a citizen, permanent resident, work-visa …Community — The caste, sub-caste or social group a family belongs to — one of th…Mother tongue — The family's first language — Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil and so on — a…
The wedding
Muhurat — An auspicious time chosen from the panchang for a wedding or any imp…Panchang — The Hindu almanac: the daily tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and week…Roka — The first formal ceremony of a North Indian match: both families agr…Sagai — The engagement ceremony, with the exchange of rings, that fixes the …Shagun — An auspicious gift — money in an envelope, sweets, cloth — exchanged…Haldi — The pre-wedding ceremony in which turmeric paste is applied to the b…Mehndi — The henna ceremony, when the bride's hands and feet are decorated, u…Sangeet — The music-and-dance evening before a North Indian wedding, now often…Baraat — The groom's procession to the wedding venue — traditionally on a hor…Milni — The meeting of the two families at the wedding venue, relative match…Kanyadaan — The ritual in which the bride's parents give her hand to the groom.Saptapadi — The seven steps around the sacred fire — the saat phere — that make …Vidaai — The bride's departure from her parents' home after the wedding.Anand Karaj — The Sikh wedding ceremony: four laavan sung as the couple walks arou…Nikah — The Islamic marriage contract, made before witnesses with the mahr a…Mahr — The mandatory gift from the groom to the bride in a Muslim marriage,…Walima — The reception hosted by the groom's family after a nikah.
On TrueSaath
Verified profile — A profile whose owner has proven their identity with a government ID…Liveness check — A selfie taken live, in the app, to prove the person is present and …Vouch — A short statement from someone who knows a member, attached to their…Family circle — TrueSaath's revocable, no-login link that shows a member's family th…Shortlist — The profiles a member has saved to look at again — and the list the …Interest — The first signal on a matrimonial platform — one member telling anot…Contact exchange — The moment two members share phone numbers or emails — on TrueSaath,…Guardian — TrueSaath's safety layer: scam-language detection on messages, dupli…
Safety
Matrimonial scam — Fraud that uses a fake or stolen matrimonial profile to extract mone…Dowry — Property or money demanded from the bride's family as a condition of…
Dating
Ghosting — Ending a relationship or conversation by disappearing — no reply, no…Ending kindly — TrueSaath Dating's one-tap way to close a match with a considerate m…Unmatch — Removing a match so neither person can message the other.Crossed paths — TrueSaath Dating's feature that shows people you have actually share…Double date — On TrueSaath Dating, bringing a friend to meet two people at once.Introduce — TrueSaath Dating's feature for introducing two people you know to ea…Situationship — A relationship that is more than casual and less than defined — and …
See the kootas on a real match
The free calculator scores all eight kootas from two sets of birth details and explains each one in the words used here.
Match two kundlis free Nakshatra compatibility chartQuestions people ask
What does this glossary cover?
The vocabulary of Indian matchmaking: kundli matching and the eight kootas, jyotish terms like nakshatra, pada and rashi, the stages of a rishta and the wedding across communities, the immigration words NRI families use, safety terms, and the features on TrueSaath Matrimony and Dating.
Where do the definitions come from?
Standard published sources on Vedic astrology and the marriage customs of each community, written in plain English. Where a term describes what TrueSaath's calculator or product does, it says exactly that.
Can I look up a term I do not see here?
Ask through the help centre and it will be added if it is one other families ask about too.
Compatibility figures are the classical Guna Milan as computed by TrueSaath's free calculator and are offered as a reference, not as advice. Community and place pages describe how TrueSaath works; any member count shown is live and rounded, never a claim.