How to Check Dosha in Kundli Without Being Fooled
Every dosha needs three answers: is it in your chart, is it cancelled there, and is the rule classical or a later custom. In 20,000 births, 89.9% carried a popular dosha; only 21.7% carried one a classical verse gives, uncancelled.
To check a dosha in your kundli, ask three questions in order: is the rule met in your chart, does anything in your chart cancel it, and does a classical verse give the rule at all? Most people are sold a puja after the first. I ran 20,000 births through the engine behind Supastro's free Dosha Second Opinion. Nine in ten carry a popular dosha. Fewer than one in four pass all three questions.
How do you check a dosha in a kundli?
Test each dosha you were told about in order: the rule, the cancellation, the source. Fail the first and it is not in your chart. Fail the second and your own chart switches it off. Fail the third and it rests on a later custom. Only what survives all three deserves a closer look. The free tool runs these steps:
- Get the chart right. Your Lagna (the sign rising at birth) and Moon sign set every house count. The free kundli prints both.
- Find the trigger. Manglik is Mars's house. Kaal Sarp is all seven planets on one side of Rahu and Ketu, the Moon's two nodes. Pitra, Grahan, Guru Chandal, Angarak and Shrapit are a planet sharing a sign with a node. Sade Sati is Saturn crossing your Moon sign and the signs either side.
- Look for the cancellation. Manglik's verse names its own exit: a benefic (Jupiter, Venus, a waxing Moon, or Mercury free of malefics) joining or aspecting Mars. For node pairs the engine accepts Jupiter's aspect or a dignified planet.
- Ask for the source. Only Manglik has a verse in our library, in Parashara's Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS). The six node and Kaal Sarp rules are later conventions; Sade Sati is a real transit under a later name.
- Check the timing. A combination acts in the dasha periods (planetary periods) of its own planets.
How many doshas are there in astrology?
There is no fixed number. None of the ten classical works in our library names Manglik, Kaal Sarp or Pitra dosha, or gives the list sold today: Manglik, Kaal Sarp, Pitra, Sade Sati, Grahan, Guru Chandal, Shrapit and Angarak. Supastro's Second Opinion checks exactly those eight against your chart.
Nadi dosha is missing on purpose: one chart cannot have it. It is a score in guna milan, the 36-point match, where two birth stars in the same group score zero out of eight. A 36-point score alone is pop astrology; the compatibility check reads it as one layer of eight, beside Mars for both partners, the Navamsa (D9) and dasha timing.
How common is each dosha, and which ones are classical?
Most popular doshas are common, and only one has a classical verse. Method: 20,000 random births, 1975 to 2005, ten Indian cities, each run through the Second Opinion's own function on 10 November 2026. Find your dosha, then read the fifth column before the third.
| Dosha | The rule in one line | Flagged by the popular rule | Left after cancellations | Classical or later | What cancels it in the engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manglik | Mars in the 1st, 4th, 7th, 8th or 12th from the Lagna; the popular rule adds the 2nd and counts from the Moon too | 75.1% | 31.1% (21.7% by the verse) | Classical for the five houses (Parashara); the 2nd house and the Moon count are later | A benefic joining or aspecting Mars; both partners Manglik |
| Sade Sati | Saturn in the sign before your Moon sign, your Moon sign or the sign after it | 24.9% on 10 Nov 2026 | 24.9% | Saturn's transit is in Phaladeepika; the name and the single 7.5-year block are later | Nothing: a transit everyone meets |
| Guru Chandal | Jupiter in the same sign as Rahu or Ketu | 17.7% | 13.4% | Later convention | Jupiter in its own or exaltation sign |
| Angarak | Mars in the same sign as Rahu or Ketu | 17.0% | 10.3% | Later convention | Mars in its own or exaltation sign, or Jupiter's aspect |
| Grahan | The Moon in the same sign as Rahu or Ketu | 16.8% | 12.7% | Later convention | Jupiter's aspect on the Moon |
| Pitra | The Sun in the same sign as Rahu or Ketu | 16.7% | 14.1% | Later convention | Jupiter's aspect on the Sun |
| Kaal Sarp | All seven planets, Sun to Saturn, on one side of the Rahu and Ketu axis | 8.5% | 4.3% | Later convention | Jupiter in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th or 10th house (itself a convention) |
| Shrapit | Saturn in the same sign as Rahu | 7.7% | 5.9% | Later convention | Saturn in its own or exaltation sign, or Jupiter's aspect |
| Any of the seven birth-chart doshas | At least one of the rows above, Sade Sati left out | 89.9% | 63.5% | Only Manglik has a verse | 21.7% carry Manglik by the verse, uncancelled |
The big numbers come from later additions: an extra house and counting point for Manglik, and node pairings no verse calls a dosha. Our census of 60,000 kundlis agrees within about a point, except Kaal Sarp (7.7% there) and Shrapit (5.8%): the nodes circle the zodiac in about 18.6 years, and the samples span different birth years.
What does your Second Opinion result mean?
Each result line answers one of the three questions; the first column below is the tool's exact wording. "In your chart" beside "No classical verse names this a dosha" is still just a conjunction, judged by sign, strength and period: not a curse, and not a reason to pay anyone.
| What the tool says | What it means | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Not in your chart | The rule is not met | Nothing. There is no dosha to fix |
| Formed, but cancelled in your chart | The pattern is there, and something in your own chart switches it off | Nothing to fix; a reading looks at those planets in their own periods |
| Only under a later convention | Met only by an extra house or counting point that no verse gives | Treat it as custom, not as a classical dosha |
| In your chart | The rule is met and nothing cancels it | Manglik: check your partner's chart and Mars's periods. Node pairs: read the planet and the node in their periods |
| Running now, or Not running now | Sade Sati only: whether Saturn is passing your Moon sign today | Read it with your running dasha, never alone |
What does a real dosha check look like?
A hypothetical birth: 18 January 1991, 6:11 am, Delhi. Sagittarius rises. The Sun, Moon, Venus, Saturn and Rahu sit in Capricorn, the 2nd house; Jupiter and Ketu sit opposite in Cancer, the 8th. A popular reading finds four doshas: Pitra (Sun with Rahu), Grahan (Moon with Rahu), Shrapit (Saturn with Rahu) and Guru Chandal (Jupiter with Ketu).
The Second Opinion cancels all four. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, which voids Guru Chandal, and from there it aspects the whole Capricorn group, which cancels the other three; Saturn is also in its own sign. Mars is 6th from the Lagna and 5th from the Moon: no Manglik. No Kaal Sarp. No Sade Sati until 8 December 2046. Four doshas sold, none left, and none had a verse behind it.
What I would read instead: five planets in the 2nd house of family and money, and Jupiter's major period running until May 2030. That is a reading. "Four doshas" is a sales list.
When does a dosha actually act?
Only in the periods of its own planets. Parashara's rule for every combination is that its results come in the dasha periods of the planets that form it. On 10 November 2026, 20.6% of the sample carry an uncancelled birth-chart dosha with one of its planets' major or sub-periods running. For Manglik by the verse, uncancelled, in a Mars period: 2.4%.
Sade Sati is Saturn's transit: it switches on by date, for everyone, roughly every 30 years. Read it against your dasha on the Sade Sati checker (how).
Supastro, an AI Vedic astrology app built in Bengaluru by Quantum Karma, computes the chart before any AI writes and runs every dosha through one engine and one verse database, so the free tool, the dashboard and the AI Oracle agree.
What else has to be computed before this becomes a prediction?
| Layer | What I compute | How it can change the answer |
|---|---|---|
| Birth time and Lagna | Rising sign and degree, the Moon's sign and degree | Every Manglik house count moves with the Lagna; a Moon near a sign edge changes the Moon count and Sade Sati |
| Aspects | Jupiter's 5th, 7th and 9th; every planet's 7th | Jupiter's aspect alone cancels most Pitra and Grahan cases |
| Dignity and strength | Own, exalted or debilitated signs; Shadbala, the six-part strength score | A dignified planet is how the engine cancels three of the node doshas |
| Navamsa (D9) | The 7th house, its lord and Venus in the marriage chart | Manglik is a marriage factor; the D9 says whether the marriage itself is supported |
| Partner's chart | Mars for both people | Both Manglik by the verse cancels it, Parashara says |
| Dasha | Vimshottari major period, sub-period and the level below | A dosha acts only in its own planets' periods |
| Transits | Saturn, Jupiter and the nodes against your Moon and the Ashtakavarga bindus (points) | Sade Sati is a transit; its weight depends on the bindus and the dasha |
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if I have a dosha in my kundli?
Run three tests on each: in the chart, cancelled, classical or later. The free Dosha Second Opinion does all three for eight doshas on one screen.
How to check Manglik dosha in kundli?
Find Mars's house from your Lagna. The 1st, 4th, 7th, 8th or 12th meets Parashara's verse; a benefic joining or aspecting Mars cancels it. The 2nd house and the Moon count are later. Every rule is in Manglik dosha cancellation.
How to check Nadi dosha in kundli?
Not from one kundli. Nadi compares two birth stars in the 36-point match. The compatibility tool checks it, flags its exceptions and reads seven other layers.
How to check Kaal Sarp dosha in kundli?
See whether all seven planets fall on one side of the Rahu and Ketu axis: 8.5% of births do. No text in our library gives the rule; Parashara's Sarpa yoga is a different thing. More on our Kaal Sarp page.
How to check Pitra dosha in kundli?
Look for the Sun in the same sign as Rahu or Ketu; Jupiter's aspect on the Sun cancels it. Parashara's curse of the father is a different, 5th-house rule. The free Pitru Dosha check runs the same rule.
How to check Shani dosha in kundli?
There is no single classical Shani dosha. People mean Sade Sati, Saturn passing the 4th or 8th sign from the Moon, or Shrapit. The first two are on the Sade Sati checker, the third in the Second Opinion.
Does a dosha need a puja or a gemstone?
No. Manglik's verse names no remedy, and the other six birth-chart rules have no verse at all. Where Supastro suggests a remedy, it is a free home practice fitted to your chart, never a gemstone or a paid puja (why we refuse fear).
