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What is Bhakoot Dosha?
In short
What is Bhakoot Dosha?
Bhakoot dosha occurs when the two moon rashis fall at certain distances from each other — the 2/12, 5/9 or 6/8 pairs. Any of these scores zero out of the seven Bhakoot points. It is the second-heaviest koota after Nadi.
The three afflicted distances
Count from one person's rashi to the other's in both directions. If the pair of counts is 2 and 12, 5 and 9, or 6 and 8, Bhakoot dosha is present. Every other distance scores the full seven points.
The traditional readings differ by pair: 2/12 is associated with financial strain, 5/9 with difficulty around children, and 6/8 with health and general friction. The 6/8 pairing, sometimes called Shadashtak, is usually treated as the most serious of the three.
When it is treated as cancelled
The commonly cited cancellations are: when the lords of the two rashis are friends or the same planet, and when Graha Maitri already scores well. Some authorities also cancel it when both rashis are ruled by the same graha — Mesha and Vrishchika, for instance, both ruled by Mars.
As with Nadi, the strictness applied varies. The calculation is definite; the interpretation is not.