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In short
Across all 81 nakshatra-quarter pairings of an Aries Moon with a Leo Moon, this app's Ashtakoot score runs from 13.5 to 26 out of 36, with a median of 23. The two signs fix four kootas: Graha Maitri is full because Mars and Sun are friends, and Bhakoot is 0 because the signs are five and nine apart.
Moon-sign compatibility is the part of Guna Milan (Ashtakoot matching) that you can know from two Moon signs alone. It is not the whole match. Of the eight kootas, four are read from the Moon sign and four from the Moon's nakshatra, so "Aries with Leo" settles part of the score and leaves the rest open. This page shows exactly which part, using this app's engine, and what the remaining range looks like.
For the signs themselves, see Aries, Mesha rashi and Leo, Simha rashi. For the system as a whole, the nakshatra matching guide is the hub for all 78 Moon-sign pairs, and the Kundli matching calculator scores two real birth charts.
Aries and Leo in brief
BPHS Ch. 4 groups Mesh (Aries) and Simh (Leo) together more than once. Sl. 5-5.5 lists both, with Dhanu, as bilious; Sl. 6-7 calls Mesh fiery, ruled by Mangal (Mars) and "related to kings"; Sl. 12 calls Simh ruled by Surya (the Sun) and "a royal Rasi". The two signs are the 1st and 5th of the zodiac, and Leo is the 5th sign counted from Aries (Aries is the 9th counted from Leo). That one fact, the 5/9 distance, decides the largest single koota for this pair.
An Aries Moon falls in one of nine nakshatra quarters (padas): the four of Ashwini, the four of Bharani and the first of Krittika. A Leo Moon falls in the four of Magha, the four of Purva Phalguni or the first of Uttara Phalguni. Pairing every quarter of one with every quarter of the other gives the 81 combinations behind the numbers below.
Which kootas the two Moon signs decide, and the score they fix
The engine's KOOTA_DRIVER table says which Moon input each koota reads. Varna, Vashya, Graha Maitri and Bhakoot read the Moon sign. Tara, Yoni, Gana and Nadi read the nakshatra (what a nakshatra is). For an Aries Moon with a Leo Moon the four sign kootas come out the same in all 81 pairings:
| Koota | Out of | Reads | Aries with Leo | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varna | 1 | Sign | 1 | Both fire signs share one Varna class in the engine's table |
| Vashya | 2 | Sign | 1 | The two signs sit in adjacent Vashya groups |
| Graha Maitri | 5 | Sign | 5 | Mars and the Sun are each other's natural friends |
| Bhakoot | 7 | Sign | 0 | The signs are 5 and 9 apart |
| Tara | 3 | Nakshatra | 1.5 or 3 | Depends on the two birth stars |
| Yoni | 4 | Nakshatra | 2 | The same in all 81 pairings here |
| Gana | 6 | Nakshatra | 0, 3 or 6 | Depends on the two birth stars |
| Nadi | 8 | Nakshatra | 0 or 8 | Depends on the two birth stars |
So the sign pair alone fixes 7 of the 15 points that the four sign kootas can give. The other 21 points ride on the nakshatras, and they vary widely: across the 81 pairings the total runs from 13.5 to 26 out of 36, with a median of 23. Two people told only "Aries and Leo" could be at either end of that range.
Graha Maitri: why this pair scores full
Graha Maitri (the koota) compares the lords of the two Moon signs. The engine grades it on the natural friendships of BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 55, which derives a graha's friends from the signs counted from its moolatrikona. In the engine's lists Mars counts the Sun as a friend and the Sun counts Mars as a friend, and a mutual friendship scores the full 5.
Bhakoot: the 5/9 rule, exactly as the engine scores it
Bhakoot (the koota) counts from one Moon sign to the other, inclusive, both ways. Aries to Leo is 5; Leo to Aries is 9. The engine scores Bhakoot 0 if either count is 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 12, so 2/12, 5/9 and 6/8 all fail, and 7 otherwise. Aries and Leo is a 5/9 pair, so Bhakoot is 0 in every one of the 81 pairings, whatever the nakshatras.
That result is a recent decision, and the engine says so. Its header comment records that no source book in this library contains the Ashtakoot rules, that the 5/9 case scored the full 7 here until October 2026, and that it now scores 0 because two published references agree on it. Descriptions elsewhere do not all agree, and some practitioners treat a trine between the Moons differently. A 0 in Bhakoot is often called Bhakoot dosha; that page covers what the term means and does not mean.
Varna and the order of entry
The engine scores Varna (the koota) by comparing the first person's class value with the second's, so for many sign pairs the result changes if the two people are entered the other way round; its header lists this as an open point. For Aries and Leo it does not matter: both are fire signs, which the engine's table (built from BPHS Ch. 4) places in the same class, so Varna is 1 in either order. Varna here is only the name of a koota and the sign classification the text uses; it says nothing about people.
What the nakshatras add: Tara, Yoni, Gana and Nadi
The spread from 13.5 to 26 comes from the four nakshatra kootas. Nadi (the koota) is the biggest swing: 8 points when the two birth stars sit in different Nadi groups and 0 when they share one, which the engine flags as "traditionally flagged; worth discussing openly". Gana (the koota) gives 6, 3 or 0. Tara gives 3 or 1.5 here. Yoni gives 2 in all 81 pairings for this sign pair.
This is why a birth time matters for matching. The Moon moves through a nakshatra in about a day, so a missing or wrong time can move one person into the neighbouring star and change Tara, Gana or Nadi without changing the Moon sign. Finding your exact star is what the nakshatra calculator does; Moon sign and nakshatra explains the relationship between the two.
Worked example: Aries 1 degree with Leo 1 degree
Take one Moon at 1 degree of Aries and the other at 1 degree of Leo. The first is in Ashwini, the second in Magha. Running them through ashtakoot() gives:
| Koota | Score | Out of | What decided it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varna | 1 | 1 | Sign: both Kshatriya in the engine's table |
| Vashya | 1 | 2 | Sign: adjacent Vashya groups |
| Tara | 3 | 3 | Nakshatra: the count is good in both directions |
| Yoni | 2 | 4 | Nakshatra: Horse and Rat, neither the same nor enemies |
| Graha Maitri | 5 | 5 | Sign: Mars and Sun, mutual friends |
| Gana | 0 | 6 | Nakshatra: Ashwini is Deva, Magha is Rakshasa |
| Bhakoot | 0 | 7 | Sign: 5/9 distance |
| Nadi | 8 | 8 | Nakshatra: different Nadi groups |
| Total | 20 | 36 |
Reading the example: the four sign kootas contribute 7, exactly as the table above predicts. The nakshatras contribute 13, with Gana at 0 doing most of the work against the pair and Nadi at 8 doing most for it. Move either Moon into a different star and only the nakshatra rows change. The total of 20 sits below the 23 median for this sign pair, mostly because of the Gana result.
A score is a description of how two Moon positions meet a set of rules. It is not a verdict on a relationship, and this page does not offer one. Many families also look at Mars placement; Mangal dosha: what it is and is not explains that check, and the love compatibility calculator offers a lighter, non-Ashtakoot comparison.
What the classical texts say about this pairing
The books in this app's library describe Mesh and Simh (BPHS Ch. 4) and the friendship of their lords (Ch. 3 Sl. 55), and the engine uses both. None of them - BPHS, Saravali, Bhrigu Sutras, Advanced Predictive Astrology - states an Ashtakoot rule or scores a pair of Moon signs, and none comments on Aries with Leo as a marriage match. The points on this page are the engine's implementation of the system as it is commonly practised, with its sources named in the code.
For the same sign with itself, see Aries and Aries and Leo and Leo. For the koota that most often draws attention, see Nadi dosha.
- What is the Guna Milan score for an Aries Moon and a Leo Moon?
- It depends on the nakshatras. Across all 81 nakshatra-quarter pairings this app scores from 13.5 to 26 out of 36, with a median of 23. The sign pair alone fixes 7 points from the four sign kootas.
- Why is Bhakoot 0 for Aries and Leo?
- Leo is the 5th sign from Aries and Aries is the 9th from Leo. The engine scores Bhakoot 0 for 2/12, 5/9 and 6/8 distances. It scored 5/9 as 7 until October 2026; its header names the references behind the change and notes that sources disagree.
- Does the order I enter the two people change the result?
- Not for this pair. The engine's Varna koota can depend on order for some sign pairs, but Aries and Leo share a Varna class, and the worked example totals 20 in either order.
- Can I know our score from Moon signs alone?
- No. Tara, Yoni, Gana and Nadi read the nakshatra, and together they carry 21 of the 36 points. Enter both birth details in the match tool for the full score.
- Is a low score a reason not to marry?
- This app does not give that verdict. A Guna Milan score is one traditional rule set applied to two Moon positions; it does not describe the people, and the classical books in this library do not contain the system at all.
Kundli Matching (Guna Milan)
The classical Ashtakoot score out of 36, computed from two birth dates.
This one has its own page
This one runs on its own page, built for it, where the full result is laid out properly. No account is needed there either.