Jyotish
Understanding your Mahadasha
The Vimshottari dasha system explains why the same chart feels so different across the decades of a life.
Two people with similar charts can live very different lives at the same age. One of the main reasons is the dasha, the planetary period each person is passing through.
The Vimshottari cycle
The Vimshottari system spans 120 years and is divided among the nine grahas:
- Ketu 7 years, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7
- Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17
Your starting dasha is fixed by the nakshatra of the Moon at birth. From there the periods follow in the same order for the rest of your life.
Mahadasha and Antardasha
Each Mahadasha is divided into nine Antardashas, one for each planet. The Mahadasha sets the broad theme of a period; the Antardasha shows which part of that theme is active right now.
Reading a dasha well
A dasha does not give good or bad results simply because of the planet. What matters is the house that planet rules, where it sits, how strong it is and which other planets influence it in your chart. A Saturn Mahadasha can be the most productive period of one person's life and a testing one for another.
Knowing your current dasha helps you time decisions: when to expand, when to consolidate and when to wait.