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In short
A Cancer Moon and a Leo Moon score 12 to 20 out of 36 in this app, median 17, over all 81 nakshatra-quarter pairings with Cancer entered first, and 13 to 21 with Leo first. The Moon and the Sun are mutual friends, giving Graha Maitri 5, but the signs are neighbours, a 2/12 distance that sets Bhakoot to 0, and Yoni is 0 in 40 of the 81.
Cancer and Leo are the signs of the two luminaries: the Moon rules one and the Sun the other. In the friendship tables those two get on perfectly. In Ashtakoot matching, though, the pair carries two structural handicaps - neighbouring signs, and a clash of Yoni animals between their stars - and the totals end up among the narrower, lower bands. This page shows where each point comes from.
The two signs: Cancer, Karka rashi and Leo, Simha rashi. The system: the nakshatra matching hub. A real couple: the Kundli matching calculator.
Kark and Simh in BPHS
BPHS Ch. 4 gives both signs a Sattvic nature and has both "resort to forests". Kark (Sl. 10-11) is pale-red, watery, many-footed, rising with its back and "strong in nights", ruled by Candr. Simh (Sl. 12) is ruled by Surya, a four-footed "royal Rasi" with a large white body, rising with its head and strong during the day. Sl. 5-5.5 makes Kark movable and phlegmatic, Simh fixed and bilious. The night-day pairing mirrors their lords. The chapter places each sign in a Varna, Kark among Brahmins and Simh as royal, and the engine's class table follows it.
A Cancer Moon is in Punarvasu (one quarter), Pushya or Ashlesha; a Leo Moon in Magha, Purva Phalguni or the first quarter of Uttara Phalguni. The boundary between the two signs is also the boundary between Ashlesha and Magha.
The kootas the two Moon signs fix
| Koota | Out of | Cancer first | Leo first | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varna | 1 | 0 | 1 | Different classes; the engine compares A with B |
| Vashya | 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Groups more than one step apart |
| Graha Maitri | 5 | 5 | 5 | The Moon and the Sun list each other as friends |
| Bhakoot | 7 | 0 | 0 | Leo is 2nd from Cancer; Cancer 12th from Leo |
| Sign total | 15 | 5.5 | 6.5 |
Graha Maitri (the koota) is the strong point. In the BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 55 relationships stored in the engine, the Sun names the Moon a friend and the Moon names the Sun a friend. Mutual friendship scores the full 5.
Bhakoot (the koota) is the weak one. Counted inclusively, Leo is the 2nd sign from Cancer and Cancer the 12th from Leo. 2/12 is one of the engine's three zero distances, with 5/9 and 6/8, a rule taken from two web references in its header because no book in this app's library sets it out. Every adjacent-sign pair loses these 7 points. The term usually attached to the result is Bhakoot dosha.
Varna (the koota) is order-dependent and, for this pair, runs the opposite way to many others: Cancer entered first scores 0, Leo entered first scores 1. The engine gives 1 only when the first Moon's class is at the same position as the second's or later in its four-item list, and Cancer's class comes first in that list. The header records the asymmetry as an open question. Varna is a technical name for a sign classification, not a judgement on anyone.
The kootas the nakshatras decide
- Yoni is 0 in 40 of the 81 pairings and 2 in the other 41. Punarvasu and Ashlesha carry the Cat, Magha and Purva Phalguni carry the Rat, and the engine lists Cat and Rat as enemies. Five of Cancer's quarters meeting eight of Leo's makes 40 zero pairings.
- Nadi is 0 in 33 and 8 in 48. The three pairs of matching nadis are Punarvasu with Uttara Phalguni (Aadi), Pushya with Purva Phalguni (Madhya), and Ashlesha with Magha (Antya).
- Gana is 6 in 16, 3 in 45, 0 in 20. Ashlesha and Magha are both Rakshasa, giving 6; Cancer's Deva stars against Magha give 0.
- Tara is 3 in 16 and 1.5 in 65.
The Ashlesha-Magha meeting, the two stars on either side of the sign boundary, is a good example of how these kootas interact. Ashlesha is Cat and Magha is Rat, so Yoni is 0; both are Rakshasa, so Gana is 6; both are Antya, so Nadi is 0. Gains and losses arrive together. A Pushya Moon meeting a Magha Moon gives a different mix: Pushya's Sheep is no enemy of the Rat, so Yoni recovers, but Pushya is Deva and Magha Rakshasa, so Gana falls to 0.
Pushya is in fact the only Cancer star that never loses Yoni here, since its animal is the Sheep. That gives a Pushya Moon a slightly better floor against any Leo Moon than a Punarvasu or Ashlesha Moon has, though its Madhya nadi still clashes with Purva Phalguni.
The range of totals
Cancer first, the 81 totals run from 12 to 20 out of 36, median 17. Leo first, 13 to 21, median 18. The band is narrow - eight points from bottom to top - because the sign kootas are fixed at 5.5 or 6.5 and the Yoni and Gana losses rarely leave room for a high nakshatra score.
For context in the same engine, Aries with Leo, another pair with Graha Maitri 5, runs 13.5 to 26 despite its own 5/9 Bhakoot loss, and Leo with Leo runs 28 to 34. What sets Cancer and Leo apart is less the signs' relationship than the Cat-Rat pattern among their stars.
To know a couple's actual figure you need both stars. The nakshatra calculator finds them; Moon sign and nakshatra explains how sign and star are two readings of the same Moon.
Worked example: Cancer 1 degree with Leo 1 degree
A Moon at 1 degree of Cancer is in the last quarter of Punarvasu; a Moon at 1 degree of Leo is in Magha. Cancer entered first:
| Koota | Score | Out of | What decided it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varna | 0 | 1 | Sign: Cancer entered first |
| Vashya | 0.5 | 2 | Sign: groups not adjacent |
| Tara | 1.5 | 3 | Nakshatra: count 4 favourable, 25 unfavourable |
| Yoni | 0 | 4 | Nakshatra: Cat and Rat, enemies |
| Graha Maitri | 5 | 5 | Sign: Moon and Sun, mutual friends |
| Gana | 0 | 6 | Nakshatra: Deva with Rakshasa |
| Bhakoot | 0 | 7 | Sign: 2/12 |
| Nadi | 8 | 8 | Nakshatra: Aadi with Antya |
| Total | 15 | 36 |
Four kootas score 0 here: Varna (because of the entry order), Yoni (Cat against Rat), Gana (Deva against Rakshasa) and Bhakoot (2/12). Graha Maitri and Nadi provide 13 of the 15 points. The total of 15 sits two below the median, and entering Leo first would add a point through Varna and nothing else.
Try moving one Moon to see how sensitive the figure is. If the Cancer Moon were a few degrees further on, in Pushya, Yoni would rise from 0 to 2 (Sheep against Rat), but Gana would stay at 0, since Pushya is also Deva. Only by reaching Ashlesha, near the end of the sign, would the Cancer Moon turn Gana to full against Magha - and at that point Nadi would drop to 0 and Yoni back to 0. Within one sign, the trade-offs largely cancel.
What the classical texts say
BPHS gives the engine the sign classes (Ch. 4) and the friendship lists (Ch. 3 Sl. 55) that settle Varna and Graha Maitri; the Sun-Moon friendship comes straight from there. The scoring of Ashtakoot is not in BPHS, nor in Saravali, the Bhrigu Sutras, Daivajna Vallabha or Advanced Predictive Astrology. None of them discusses a Cancer Moon marrying a Leo Moon, so there is no classical verdict on this pair to report.
What a score does not tell you
A total in the teens is a measurement against a convention, and the convention's own sources disagree on several cells. It does not describe two people or decide anything for them; this app gives no verdict on marriage. Mars placement is a separate traditional check: Mangal dosha: what it is and is not. Nadi dosha explains the shared-Nadi result. For a lighter comparison see the love compatibility calculator. Neighbouring pairs: Cancer and Cancer, Leo and Leo and Cancer and Virgo.
- What is the Guna Milan score for a Cancer Moon and a Leo Moon?
- In this app, 12 to 20 out of 36 with Cancer entered first (median 17) and 13 to 21 with Leo first (median 18).
- If the Moon and Sun are friends, why is the score low?
- Their friendship gives the full 5 for Graha Maitri. But the signs are adjacent, which zeroes the 7-point Bhakoot, and Yoni is 0 in 40 of the 81 pairings because of a Cat-Rat clash among the stars.
- Why does entering Leo first add a point?
- The engine's Varna koota compares the first Moon with the second. Leo first passes; Cancer first does not.
- Which Cancer star does best against Leo?
- Pushya never loses Yoni here, because its animal, the Sheep, is not an enemy of the Rat or the Cow. Its Madhya nadi still matches Purva Phalguni.
- How do we get our own score?
- Enter both births in the match tool; it reads both nakshatras from the birth times.
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.