Vimshottari dasha: time, divided

What a dasha is

Dasha means "condition" or "state", and in Jyotish it names a period of time governed by a particular graha. A dasha system divides a life into a sequence of such periods. The idea is that the birth chart shows what is promised, and the dasha shows when a given part of it is emphasised. Classical texts describe several dasha systems; the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra lists more than forty. By far the most widely used is the Vimśottarī daśā.

Vimshottari means "one hundred and twenty". The system assumes a full cycle of 120 years, a number the texts give as the full span of a human life.

The nine periods

The cycle is divided among the nine grahas in a fixed order and a fixed number of years:

Graha	Years
Ketu	7
Venus	20
Sun	6
Moon	10
Mars	7
Rahu	18
Jupiter	16
Saturn	19
Mercury	17

The total is 120. The order never changes: after Mercury comes Ketu again.

Why these numbers? The texts state them without derivation. Several modern authors have proposed explanations, but none is generally accepted†, and we do not repeat any as established.

Where the cycle starts: the Moon's nakshatra

The twenty-seven Nakṣatras are assigned to the nine grahas in the same sequence, three times over. Ashvini, Magha and Mula belong to Ketu; Bharani, Purva Phalguni and Purva Ashadha to Venus; Krittika, Uttara Phalguni and Uttara Ashadha to the Sun; and so on through Revati, which belongs to Mercury.

The dasha at birth is that of the lord of the nakshatra in which the Moon stands. If the Moon is in Rohini, a nakshatra of the Moon, the native is born in Moon dasha.

The balance at birth

The Moon will rarely be exactly at the start of its nakshatra. The portion of the nakshatra still to be crossed determines how much of the first dasha remains. Each nakshatra spans 13°20′, or 800 minutes of arc.

Suppose the Moon is at 10° Vrishabha. Rohini runs from 10° to 23°20′ Vrishabha, so the Moon has just entered it and has almost all 800 minutes left to traverse. The remaining Moon dasha is then almost the full ten years.

If instead the Moon is at 20° Vrishabha, it has travelled 600 of Rohini's 800 minutes and has 200 minutes left, a quarter. The balance of Moon dasha at birth is a quarter of ten years, two and a half years. After that comes Mars dasha (7 years), then Rahu (18), and so on.

Because the balance depends directly on the Moon's longitude, it is sensitive to birth time and to the Ayanāṃśa. The Moon moves about half a degree in an hour; a one-degree change in the ayanamsa can move the start of every dasha in a life by several months.

Sub-periods

Each dasha (mahadasha) is divided into nine sub-periods (antardasha or bhukti), in the same order, beginning with the mahadasha's own graha. The length of each is proportional:

antardasha length = (mahadasha years × antardasha graha's years) ÷ 120

In Venus mahadasha (20 years), for example, the Venus–Venus sub-period lasts 20 × 20 ÷ 120 = 3 years and 4 months, the Venus–Sun sub-period 20 × 6 ÷ 120 = 1 year. Each antardasha is divided again into pratyantardashas by the same rule, and the subdivision can continue further.

How classical texts read a period

The texts do not say that a graha's period simply brings that graha's significations. They ask how the dasha lord stands in the chart: which houses it rules, which house it occupies, its sign and dignity, its associations and aspects. A graha that rules a Kendra and a trikona is read differently from one that rules difficult houses. The antardasha lord is then read in relation to the mahadasha lord. Classical authors also combine dasha with Gocara, the current transits, as a second layer of timing. All of this is interpretation within the Hora tradition. We describe the method; we do not make claims about what any period will bring a person.

Other systems

Vimshottari is a nakshatra-based system. Others include Ashtottari (108 years), used in some regions under particular conditions; Yogini (36 years); and the sign-based systems of the Jaimini tradition such as Chara dasha. Each has its own rules of application.

Try it

The Dasha tool lists mahadashas and antardashas from a birth date, time and place. Use the Nakshatra finder to see where the Moon stood in its nakshatra, and change the time by a few minutes to see how sensitive the balance is.

Taught in

Vimshottari dasha is one of the themes of the 30-hour research component of our Certificate Programme in Predictive Astrology, offered as FORE × Deepanshu Giri Ji. The programme has 60 hours of learning engagement: 30 hours of live teaching on weekends and 30 hours of self-paced research. The fee is ₹35,000 + applicable GST.

† Marked dates or readings are debated among scholars or still being confirmed by our faculty.