Marriage Matchmaking

Marriage matching or match making is a solemn decision taken on behalf of the boy and a girl before they tie the knot to hold and to behold each other for the rest of their lives. The Hindus ensure that the compatibility of this solemn lifelong binding enables the couple to live ‘happily ever after’.

For this vital decision of their lives, the parents of both the girl and the boy who are to get married and the elders of their families get together; they then follow an ancient method, laid down by the sages of old, to see the marriage compatibility between the girl and the boy. This method is called ‘Porutham’ or koota agreement.

Poruthams are chalked out after the study of the birth stars of both the boy and the girl who are contemplating marriage. The sages had initially devised 20 poruthams but now only 10 are in use. According to them, there are 27 birth stars (nakshatras) for each person in an oval configuration which constitutes a zodiac. The zodiac influences the person through the nine planets (navgrahas).

The 10 poruthams (kootas) thus chalked out are: dinam, ganam, yoni, rasi, rasiyathipaty, rajju, vedha, vasya, mahendram and stree deergham.