Kuja Dosha / Mangalik – Misconceptions :
 
Myths about marriage :
One of the biggest misconceptions and fears in the Hindu society with respect to marriage is the presence of Mangala Dosha or Kuja Dosha in the chart of a boy or a girl. I have seen a countless number of good matches being rejected by people just because the boy or the girl has Mangala Dosha present in the chart.

Even the various Shastras of astrology differ as to in which houses it is present, what the exceptions are and what the effects and remedies are. According to some authorities Mars is placed in the 1,2,4,7,8,12, from lagna causes Kuja Dosha. Some authorities omit the 1st house and some others omit the 2nd house.

Some astrologers thump the table and quote Parashara and Varahamihira to prove their point. To start with most of the astrologers only have a very hazy idea of the sastras. On top of that, let me tell you that the existing shastras and their translations are not very pure! Take for example the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra of Rishi Parashara. In chapter 2 verse 5-7 we have the following: “Rama is the incarnation of the Sun, Krishna of the moon, Narasimha that of Mars, Buddha that of Mercury, Vamana that of Jupiter, Parashurama that of Venus, Koorma that of Saturn, Varaha that of Rahu and Matsya that of Ketu”. Sounds great. However, according to astrology Parashara was the father of Vedavyasa who wrote the Mahabharata. According to our calculations the Mahabharata period was 2500 BC to 3200 BC., or around 1200BC. according to the western historians. Buddha belonged to the much later and fairly authentically recorded period. He died in 544BC. Then how did Parashara say that Buddha is the Avatara of Mercury more than a millennium before? If he were forecasting then he would have clearly stated that “Buddha avatara will be born”. Obviously some of the people who wrote the shastras added a few things of their own!

Rishi Parashara, in his Brihat Parasara Horasastra, said the following: “If Mars is placed in the Lagna, 12th, 4th, 7th and 8th houses, without any aspect or conjunction of the benefic planets, the husband of such a woman will certainly have an early death.” So it is clear that if Mars has the aspect or association of a benefic, there is no dosha. It must be noted that in the very next verse, verse 48, he gave the other important exception as follows: “The yoga in which a woman takes birth and becomes a widow, if a male takes birth, he also becomes a widower. If a woman with the widowhood yoga marries a man with similar yoga, such yoga will be cancelled.” So the 2nd exception given by him is that this feared dosha is cancelled if both the girl and the boy have mangal dosha.

However by and large the majority of the astrologers include the 2nd house also in the mangala dosha and accept the 6 houses. As there are 12 houses in a horoscope and as Mars in 6 houses causes Mangala Dosha, it simply means that 50% of the people born have Kuja Dosha of some level. Hence it goes without saying that this Mangala Dosha is not something which will ruin a person, because it is not the intention of God to condemn half of mankind.
 
The prevalent misconceptions are that, if a person has Martian affliction it will either ruin the marriage or will cause one’s death or the death of the partner. Especially if a girl has Kuja or Mangala Dosha, called “Mangali”, she is looked upon as a devil by the mother-in-law. Nothing can be farther than the truth. First let us examine what the Kuja Dosha is all about and how it affects marriage.

The planet Mars symbolizes courage, aggression, vitality, confidence, fighting spirit and warrior qualities. If Mars is placed in any of these 6 houses, it gives aggressive tendencies to either the person or the spouse. In certain cases if Mars is malefic to the native, it also gives danger to life, provided that other bad combinations are also present. These two are the main negative qualities. Hence the first reason for the “Dosha Complex” is that – in the olden days the ideal wife was regarded as one who is meek, obedient and submissive. Hence a girl with the so called Martian afflictions, who is likely to have courage and fighting spirit, was considered by our MCP society as a girl with “Dosha”. The second possible reason for the “Dosha Complex” is that during the war torn middle ages when a lot of the sastras were written, a “Martian person”, who is normally well built, courageous, aggressive and has fighting qualities, was a prime candidate to be recruited by the king for his army and hence the chances of his death or serious injury were quite strong. In the present changed circumstances it is foolishness of the highest order to be scared simply because one has Mangal Dosha.
 
However, Mangala Dosha is not something that can be ignored. It does cause marital discord. Before marriage it is very essential to match horoscopes for Kuja Dosha. If a person has Kuja Dosha in the horoscope the spouse must also have Kuja Dosha. This way the Dosha is cancelled. Otherwise both should be without any Dosha. Various “authorities and experts” have given a lot of exceptions and cancellations for the Dosha. They are so many that almost everything is cancelled! The truth is that in majority of the cases the so called exceptions and cancellations do not work.
 
P.S.Iyer’s tips: In 1991 the late Sri P.S.Iyer, one of the acknowledged giants of Indian astrology and an authority on the marriage aspects, gave a discourse to several budding aspirants of astrology in Mr. K.N.Rao’s house and I was one of the fortunate ones to attend it. He was quite clear in stating that Mangala dosha is present in 6 houses. This Kuja Dosha or Mangala Dosha must be examined from the Moon, Venus and Saturn also. He even gave the details of the percentage of Mangala dosha in each house. In 8th house the dosha is full, in lagna 1/2, in 7th 1/4, in 4th 1/8 and in 12th and 2nd houses 1/16. As per the exceptions and cancellations, he was very specific about the following:
 
No dosha if mars is in its its own house or exaltation house. No dosha if aspected by a benefic.

If a strong benefic is placed in the 9th house then the dosha of Mars in the 7th and 8th is cancelled.

However he also advised that apart from the Mars, the planets Saturn, Sun and Rahu also cause similar dosha! From the point of view of causing dosha, if Mars causes 100% dosha, Saturn causes 75% dosha, Sun causes 50% dosha and rahu causes 25% dosha. These doshas must also be evaluated similarly!

As per the koota matching his advise was to give more importance to dina, gana, rasi, yoni and rajju and less to the others. So much so for the nadi dosha fear!

The matching of horoscopes and especially the extent of Mangala Dosha is the job of an experienced astrologer and must be done after carefully analyzing both the horoscopes.