Gana Kuta

Gana Kuta is the sixth of the eight kutas of Ashta Kuta, six points. At its base lies a division in which the nakshatras are sorted into three classes: divine, human and demonic. Each of the twenty-seven nakshatras belongs to one of them, and the kuta compares the partners' classes by the nakshatra of the Moon.

Place in the system

The classes describe a cast of temperament, not a merit. What exactly stands behind each of the three is drawn differently by different texts, and tradition gives no single description.

There is no hierarchy of rank here as there is in Varna Kuta: the texts name no "higher" or "lower" among the three. The matrix itself, however, is not symmetrical — some pairings give the full score, others a partial one or none.

The score is full when the classes match. Beyond that the differences begin, and here Gana parts company with the other kutas: it is directional — in the convention taken here the order of the sides matters. Varna is read the same way; other schools read Vashya and the Tara count directionally as well.

Schools read this directionality differently, and the divergence runs within a single edition: the root verse states the rule symmetrically, while the commentary on that same verse and the numeric table beside it state it directionally. Hence swapping the groom and the bride changes the score. The treatise Prasna Marga and the Kalaprakasika also read the rule directionally. This reckoning follows the directional reading.

Practical meaning

The hardest reading falls on the junction of the human and demonic classes: there the commentary gives a zero score in both directions, and there the schools diverge most. The junction of the divine and the demonic is directional in another way: zero one way round, minimal but not zero the other.

The kuta describes temperament, not fate. It answers the question "are these two built alike in how they insist and how they yield", and no other. Six points out of thirty-six is a noticeable weight, but it remains one factor among eight.

The classics single out Nadi and Bhakoot as blocking. This reckoning adds Gana to them: a zeroed Gana is flagged with a warning on the same footing as those two.

In daily practice

In the reckoning Gana gives a full score, a partial one or zero, depending on which classes met and in what order. That is why for a same-sex couple it is marked provisional: the roles of groom and bride there are assigned by order of entry rather than by nature, and the directional matrix loses its footing.

When reading the result it helps to look not at the figure but at the pair of classes: it says more on its own than the score does. Matching classes mean a likeness in reactions; a mismatch is a warning that the same situation may be read differently by the two.