Choosing a Tamil Astrology App for Porutham Matching: What to Check
What a Tamil marriage-matching app has to get right — the ten poruthams with rajju and dinam weighted properly, dosham checks read together, both charts in full — and how to tell a real porutham engine from a nakshatra lookup.
Most apps that advertise Tamil marriage matching compute a number out of ten from the two birth nakshatras and stop there. That is a nakshatra lookup, not a porutham reading: it treats all ten checks as equal weights, ignores the rasi-level checks that need both full charts, and says nothing about the doshams a family will ask about first.
This guide sets out what a matching tool has to compute to be worth using, why the count on its own misleads, and a short test that distinguishes a real porutham engine from a table lookup with a progress bar. Our explainer on the ten poruthams covers what each check means; this one is about the software.
Why the count out of ten misleads
The ten poruthams are not equal weights, and any app presenting them as a simple tally is discarding the part traditional practice cares most about. Rajju is the one elders refuse to waive; dinam carries far more weight than ganam or yoni. A 6/10 with rajju and dinam intact is routinely treated as a better match than an 8/10 without them.
A useful tool therefore shows which poruthams passed, not merely how many. If the interface gives you a score and a verdict but will not name the failures, it cannot support the conversation that actually happens in a family.
What a real porutham engine needs
| Requirement | Why it matters | What a lookup tool does instead |
|---|---|---|
| Both full charts, not just nakshatras | Rasi, Rasi Athipathi and Vasiyam are rasi-level checks | Asks only for two star names |
| Per-porutham results | Rajju and dinam outweigh the rest | Shows a single score out of ten |
| Exact nakshatra pada | Pada decides borderline cases and the navamsa | Rounds to the nakshatra |
| Dosham checks alongside | Chevvai dosham is asked about before any count | Omits them or sells them separately |
| A stated ayanamsa | A boundary nakshatra can change frame to frame | Never names one |
| Navamsa for both | D9 is read closely for marriage | Rasi chart only |
The last two deserve emphasis. When a Moon sits near a nakshatra boundary, the ayanamsa decides which star it falls in — and therefore several poruthams at once. An app that does not name its frame cannot be reconciled with the family astrologer’s reading, which is exactly when the disagreement will surface.
Porutham and guna milan are not the same system
North Indian guna milan scores 36 gunas across eight kutas; Tamil practice checks ten poruthams. They overlap in what they examine but weight it differently and produce different numbers, so a 28/36 and a 7/10 are not translations of each other.
An app aimed at Tamil families should lead with porutham and name it as such. One that quietly runs guna milan and labels the output “compatibility” will disagree with the family astrologer for reasons neither side can locate.
The doshams a family asks about first
In practice the first question is rarely the count. It is whether either chart carries chevvai dosham (Mangal dosha), and, if the couple are older or the match is being reconsidered, where Saturn currently sits relative to each Moon.
- Chevvai dosham — Mars in specific houses from the lagna, Moon or Venus, with cancellation rules that a bare yes/no flag hides.
- Sade Sati — Saturn transiting the 12th, 1st and 2nd from the janma rasi, often raised when timing a wedding.
- Rajju — technically a porutham, but treated as a threshold rather than a scored item.
A matching tool that reports a porutham count while staying silent on chevvai dosham has answered the second question and skipped the first.
A short test for any matching app
- Enter two births whose result you already know from a trusted astrologer. Check the per-porutham breakdown, not the total.
- Ask whether it wants full birth details for both people. If two star names are enough, the rasi-level checks are not being computed.
- Move one birth time by ten minutes and re-run. If a borderline nakshatra never changes, the tool is rounding.
- Look for the ayanamsa on the output.
- Check whether chevvai dosham is reported for both charts, with the cancellation reasoning rather than a bare flag.
Step 2 is the quickest filter. Rasi, Rasi Athipathi and Vasiyam cannot be evaluated from nakshatras alone, so an app that asks only for two stars is necessarily computing a subset and presenting it as the whole.
How Zodian handles it
Zodian works from both full charts rather than two star names, and reports each porutham individually so rajju and dinam can be read on their own terms rather than averaged into a score. Chevvai dosham and Saturn’s current phase are computed from the same charts, so the dosham questions and the matching question are answered from one consistent set of positions in a stated ayanamsa.
Porutham matching reports sit in Zodian’s Pro tier. The free tier casts both charts in full — rasi and navamsa, planetary degrees, nakshatra and pada — which is what you need to check a porutham result someone else produced, or to work through the ten checks yourself.
Zodian runs free in beta on the web at zodian.in, on iOS via TestFlight, and on Android via the Play Store — the same profiles sync across all three.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Tamil astrology app for marriage matching?
The one that shows its working. Judge on four things: does it take full birth details for both people rather than two nakshatras, does it report each of the ten poruthams separately, does it check chevvai dosham alongside, and does it name the ayanamsa it used. An app that does all four can be reconciled with a family astrologer’s reading; one that returns only a score cannot.
How many poruthams are needed for marriage?
There is no fixed threshold, and the count matters less than which ones passed. Rajju is treated as near non-negotiable and dinam carries heavy weight, so a 6/10 keeping both is commonly preferred to an 8/10 missing rajju. Families and astrologers differ, which is why the per-porutham breakdown matters more than the total.
Can porutham be checked from nakshatra alone?
Only partly. Several poruthams — dinam, ganam, yoni, rajju, vedhai — are nakshatra-based, but Rasi, Rasi Athipathi and Vasiyam are computed from the rasi positions, so they need both full charts. A tool asking only for two star names is computing a subset.
Is porutham matching free on Zodian?
Porutham matching reports are part of Pro. The free tier casts both charts in full — rasi and navamsa in South or North style, with degrees, nakshatra and pada — which is enough to work through the checks yourself or to verify a result from elsewhere.
Does porutham replace guna milan?
No — they are separate systems. Guna milan scores 36 gunas across eight kutas and is the North Indian method; porutham checks ten compatibilities and is Tamil practice. They examine overlapping ground with different weights, so their scores are not convertible.