Rite 01 · Before it's even fixed
Kundali
Before anything else, the stars are consulted. A Pandit ji lays the two birth charts side by side and reads whether the heavens consent — the gun-milan scored, the manglik dosha weighed.
The whole weddingKundali · कुंडलीDraft
Rite 01 of 19Known locally as
Kundali
/ kun·da·lee / कुंडली
the birth chart — the horoscope cast at birth; the matching of the bride's and groom's is the heart of an arranged match.
What it is
A Pandit ji or jyotishi lays the bride's and groom's janam-kundalis side by side and reads how the stars of their births agree — the gun-milan, scored out of thirty-six.
Why it's done
The match is held to be written in the heavens before it is made on earth. The reading weighs temperament, fortune and longevity — and above all the manglik dosha, whether Mars sits where it asks for caution.
How it unfolds
The two charts are compared point by point; a high gun-milan is auspicious. Where one side is manglik, a match with another manglik is sought, so the two cancel and the stars are quieted.
Who needs to be there
The jyotishi or family Pandit ji, and the elders of both houses.
What's special — and how we keep it
Many a match has turned on this single reading — and many a manglik has waited for another. (We should know: we are both manglik ourselves.)
Her side, and his
The bride's side
Her family's Pandit ji casts and reads her kundali, and weighs every proposal against it.
The groom's side
His does the same — two charts, two readings, brought together to see if the stars will allow it.
Pandit ji, the mantra & the song Draft
Pandit ji's part
This is the jyotishi's hour: the whole match may rest on the gun-milan he scores and the dosha he flags.