Astrology And Partner Matching

I was discussing compatibility issues with a friend using MBTI theory as a reference point. As an example, how it would be for an NT to live under the same roof as an SF or for an NF to live with an ST. 

My friend asked me whether Vedic astrology also didn't try to check compatibility of would be spouses and if so why was it unable to prevent wrong matches. Good question, I thought.

Here is my thought. Vedic astrology is a thousand years old. Very little got added to that body of science (or art) since 1000AD. And the purpose of matching was primarily to ensure that the man and women had equal longevity (so neither was widowed early) and that they could have children.

So long as the charts of Man A and Woman B indicated that they had equal or good longevity and that progeny was indicated in their combination, it was deemed a good match. Of course, other factors such as looks, wealth, education were also considered but  these were outside of the scope of astrological horoscope matching.

Now, we can see that the matching did not include aspects of  compatibility of their natures. 

As to why it didn't, I have to recall a conversation that I had with another friend who lives in a joint family. Her mother in law told her that the amount of time that a man and a wife spend together is at most 3 or 4 hours. The rest of the time the man is out at work or with his friends or brothers / uncles etc. And the woman spends most of the time inside the house with children and other women in the house. That being the case, where is the need for great compatibility like in the case of Darcy and Elizabeth?

If Elizabeth and Bingley had been married to each other and lived in a joint family with Bingley's 3 brothers and their wives and children and with his parents, would their marriage have been a colossal failure? Probably not.

In the last 1000 years (more likely in the last 50  years), the family has become more nuclear. A woman sees no other close relative other than her husband on a daily basis and hence she has a higher need for compatibility. This is true for the husband as well. There are no brothers or uncles for him.

Such a situation as we have now was not known to the people that lived 1000 years ago. Maybe that's the reason Vedic astrology "screws up" while matching horoscopes - because we are expecting things that were not within scope when the sages founded astrology.