Mahadasha and Antardasha explained: how Vimshottari Dasha divides your life

A birth chart shows what you were born with. The Dasha system shows when each part of it comes forward. It divides a life into periods and gives each period to one planet. The most widely used system is Vimshottari Dasha.

The nine Mahadashas

A Mahadasha is a long period led by one planet. There are nine. They always come in the same order and always have the same length.

Together they make 120 years. Vimshottari means "of 120". Nobody lives through all nine in full. Most people see five to seven of them.

Where your cycle starts

The cycle does not start at Ketu for everyone. It starts from the Moon.

The zodiac is divided into 27 stars called Nakshatras. Each is 13 degrees and 20 minutes wide. Each belongs to one of the nine planets in the same order as the table above, repeated three times.

The star your Moon was in at birth decides your first Mahadasha. If your Moon was in a star that belongs to Venus you were born in Venus Mahadasha.

You were also born part of the way through it. If the Moon had crossed half of the star then half of that Mahadasha was already used up. For Venus that leaves 10 of the 20 years. This is why the first Mahadasha in a chart is nearly always shorter than the table says.

Antardasha: the periods inside

Each Mahadasha is divided into nine smaller periods called Antardashas. They are also called Bhuktis. All nine planets take a turn.

Two rules decide the order and the length:

• Order. The first Antardasha belongs to the Mahadasha planet itself. The rest follow in the usual order from there. In Mercury Mahadasha the Antardashas run Mercury, Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter and Saturn.
• Length. Each planet gets a share in proportion to its own Mahadasha length.

The sum is simple. Multiply the two Mahadasha lengths and divide by 120. The answer is in years.

Example: Rahu Antardasha inside Mercury Mahadasha. Mercury is 17 years and Rahu is 18 years. 17 × 18 ÷ 120 = 2.55 years. That is 2 years, 6 months and 18 days.

Pratyantardasha: the third level

Each Antardasha divides once more into nine Pratyantardashas by the same rule. These last from a few days to a few months. Astrologers use them to narrow the timing of an event.

So at any moment three planets are running: one for the Mahadasha, one for the Antardasha and one for the Pratyantardasha.

How a period is read

The Mahadasha planet sets the theme for the whole period. To read it, look at that planet in the birth chart:

1. Which house it sits in. That area of life comes forward.
2. Which houses it owns. Their matters are carried along.
3. How strong it is. A strong planet delivers more of what it promises.
4. Which planets sit with it or look at it. They colour the results.

The Antardasha planet then decides which part of life the theme shows up in for those months.

Do the two planets work together?

An Antardasha tends to go well when its planet is well placed from the Mahadasha planet. Count the houses from the Mahadasha planet to the Antardasha planet, calling the first house 1.

It also helps when the two planets are natural friends, such as the Sun and Jupiter or Mercury and Venus.

A Mahadasha is not good or bad for everyone

Saturn Mahadasha is feared and Jupiter Mahadasha is welcomed. Both ideas are too simple. For a person with Taurus or Libra rising Saturn owns the best houses in the chart and its period can be the most productive of their life. What matters is the planet's role in your own chart.