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In short
A Cancer Moon and a Capricorn Moon score 12.5 to 26.5 out of 36 in this app, median 23.5, across all 81 nakshatra-quarter pairings with Cancer entered first; Capricorn first adds 1. The signs are opposite, a 7/7 distance that keeps Bhakoot at 7, but Saturn counts the Moon an enemy, so Graha Maitri is 1 and the sign kootas give 9 of 15.
Cancer and Capricorn face each other across the zodiac, the Moon's sign opposite one of Saturn's. In Guna Milan an opposition is not one of the penalised distances, so the heaviest sign koota is safe. What holds the sign score down is the lords' relationship, and what spreads the totals is a pair of nakshatra kootas that rarely line up. Here is the engine's working.
Sign pages: Cancer, Karka rashi and Capricorn, Makara rashi. The nakshatra matching hub explains the eight kootas; the Kundli matching calculator scores two real charts.
Kark and Makar in BPHS
BPHS Ch. 4 Sl. 5-5.5 makes both signs movable, calls Kark phlegmatic and Makar windy. Both are said to be strong at night, and both have a watery side: Kark is a watery sign outright (Sl. 10-11), and Makar's second half is "footless, moving in water" (Sl. 19-20). Otherwise Makar is earthy, Tamasic, southern, large-bodied, variegated, ruled by Sani; Kark is Sattvic, forest-dwelling and ruled by Candr. Ch. 3 Sl. 49-50 adds that Kark is Guru's exaltation sign and Makar Mangal's, so each is the other's debilitation sign for those two grahas. Ashtakoot uses none of this.
A Cancer Moon is in Punarvasu (its last quarter), Pushya or Ashlesha. A Capricorn Moon is in Uttara Ashadha (three quarters), Shravana (four) or Dhanishta (two).
The kootas the two signs fix: 9 of 15
| Koota | Out of | Cancer first | Capricorn first | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varna | 1 | 0 | 1 | Different classes; the engine compares A with B |
| Vashya | 2 | 1 | 1 | Adjacent Vashya groups |
| Graha Maitri | 5 | 1 | 1 | Saturn lists the Moon as an enemy; the Moon is neutral to Saturn |
| Bhakoot | 7 | 7 | 7 | Distance 7 both ways |
| Sign total | 15 | 9 | 10 |
Bhakoot (the koota) keeps all 7 points. Capricorn is the 7th sign from Cancer and Cancer the 7th from Capricorn. The engine scores 0 only for 2/12, 5/9 and 6/8 - a list from two web references, since this app's classical books do not set out the rule - and the opposition is not among them.
Graha Maitri (the koota) costs most of its 5. In the BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 55 relationships stored in the engine, Saturn lists the Moon among its enemies (with Mars and the Sun). The Moon, which has no enemies in those lists, regards Saturn as neutral. Neutral-enemy scores 1 in this engine; the header notes that its references disagree (0.5 or 1) and that the earlier value was kept.
Varna (the koota) depends on order. The engine gives 1 when the first Moon's class is at the same position in its list as the second's or later. Cancer's class is at the head of that list, so Cancer entered first scores 0, Capricorn entered first scores 1. The header lists this as unresolved. Vashya (the koota) gives 1 for adjacent groups. Varna is the koota's name for a BPHS sign class, not a description of people.
The kootas the nakshatras decide
- Nadi is 0 in 36 pairings and 8 in 45. Ashlesha is Antya, like Uttara Ashadha and Shravana, so an Ashlesha Moon shares a Nadi with seven of Capricorn's nine quarters; Pushya with Dhanishta (both Madhya) adds the rest.
- Gana is 6 in 28, 3 in 27, 0 in 26. Deva meets Rakshasa in two ways: Cancer's Deva stars against Dhanishta, and Ashlesha against Shravana.
- Yoni is 0 in 16 and 2 in 65. Pushya's Sheep and Shravana's Monkey are enemies in the engine's table.
- Tara is 1.5 in every pairing; one direction of the count is always unfavourable.
Each Cancer star has a characteristic weakness against Capricorn. Ashlesha tends to lose Nadi. Pushya loses Yoni against Shravana and Nadi against Dhanishta, though it gets full Gana with Shravana. Punarvasu, being Aadi, can never share a Nadi with a Capricorn Moon and has no Yoni enemy there either, so it reliably lands near the top of the range - as the worked example shows.
Shravana is the Capricorn star with the most varied results. Against Pushya it gives full Gana but an enemy Yoni; against Ashlesha it gives Gana 0 and a shared Nadi; against Punarvasu it gives full Gana and a different Nadi. Three stars, three quite different outcomes, all within a few days of the Moon's motion.
The range of totals
Cancer first, the 81 totals run from 12.5 to 26.5 out of 36, median 23.5. Capricorn first, 13.5 to 27.5, median 24.5. The median sits fairly high because Bhakoot is safe and most pairings keep either Gana or Nadi; the low tail comes from the two combinations that lose both, Ashlesha with Shravana and Pushya with Dhanishta.
Those two combinations are worth a closer look because they fail for opposite reasons. Ashlesha is Rakshasa and Shravana Deva, so Gana is 0, and both are Antya, so Nadi is 0. Pushya is Deva and Dhanishta Rakshasa - the same Gana clash, reversed - and both are Madhya. In each case the two stars sit in the same Nadi group but on opposite sides of the Deva-Rakshasa divide. Ashlesha with Shravana covers 16 pairings, Pushya with Dhanishta 8, and together they make up most of the bottom of the distribution.
The opposite case, both kootas held, is most common for Punarvasu, which is why the worked example below, a Punarvasu Moon, lands on the median rather than below it. Punarvasu loses Gana only against Dhanishta.
In the same engine, Cancer with Libra (also Graha Maitri 1, Bhakoot 7) runs 12.5 to 28 - almost the same band, reached by similar means. Cancer with Sagittarius, a 6/8 pair, runs only 8 to 23.5, which shows what the safe opposition is worth here. Such comparisons describe the scoring tables, not people.
Placing a real couple requires both stars, and so both birth times. The nakshatra calculator finds them; Moon sign and nakshatra explains how sign and star relate.
Worked example: Cancer 1 degree with Capricorn 1 degree
A Moon at 1 degree of Cancer is in the last quarter of Punarvasu; a Moon at 1 degree of Capricorn is in Uttara Ashadha. Cancer entered first:
| Koota | Score | Out of | What decided it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varna | 0 | 1 | Sign: Cancer entered first |
| Vashya | 1 | 2 | Sign: adjacent groups |
| Tara | 1.5 | 3 | Nakshatra: count 15 favourable, 14 unfavourable |
| Yoni | 2 | 4 | Nakshatra: Cat and Mongoose |
| Graha Maitri | 1 | 5 | Sign: Moon neutral, Saturn hostile |
| Gana | 3 | 6 | Nakshatra: Deva with Manushya |
| Bhakoot | 7 | 7 | Sign: 7/7 |
| Nadi | 8 | 8 | Nakshatra: Aadi with Antya |
| Total | 23.5 | 36 |
The example sits exactly on the median. Signs give 9, stars 14.5. Bhakoot and Nadi carry the total; the partial Gana (Deva against Manushya) and the low Graha Maitri are the main shortfalls. Moving the Capricorn Moon a few degrees into Shravana would lift Gana to 6, since Shravana is Deva like Punarvasu, while keeping Nadi intact.
What the classical texts say
BPHS supplies two inputs: the sign classes of Ch. 4 and the natural friendships of Ch. 3 Sl. 55, which hold Saturn's enmity towards the Moon. The Ashtakoot points are absent from BPHS and from the other books in the library - Saravali, the Bhrigu Sutras, Daivajna Vallabha, Advanced Predictive Astrology. None of them comments on a Cancer Moon matched with a Capricorn Moon, so the page offers no classical verdict.
What a score does not tell you
A 12.5 or a 26.5 describes two Moon positions under one tradition's rules. It is not a portrait of a couple and not advice; this app does not say whether anyone should marry. Mars placement is assessed separately - see Mangal dosha: what it is and is not. Nadi dosha explains the shared-Nadi result. The love compatibility calculator offers a lighter comparison. Related pairs: Cancer and Sagittarius, Cancer and Aquarius and Gemini and Capricorn.
- What is the Guna Milan score for a Cancer Moon and a Capricorn Moon?
- 12.5 to 26.5 out of 36 in this app with Cancer entered first (median 23.5); 13.5 to 27.5 with Capricorn first.
- Does the opposition cause Bhakoot dosha?
- No. A 7/7 distance keeps the full 7 points in this engine; only 2/12, 5/9 and 6/8 score 0.
- Why is Graha Maitri only 1?
- Saturn counts the Moon as an enemy and the Moon counts Saturn neutral, in the BPHS relationships the engine uses. Neutral-enemy is scored 1.
- Which Cancer star tends to score best with Capricorn?
- Punarvasu. Its Aadi nadi never matches a Capricorn star and its Cat has no enemy there, so it keeps Nadi and Yoni in every pairing.
- How do we find our real score?
- Enter both births in the match tool. Entering Capricorn first will show one point more than Cancer first.
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.