Dasha & timing · 10 min read
Vimshottari dasha, explained simply
The 120-year planetary calendar and how to read your current period.
A 120-year cycle
Vimshottari dasha divides a full life of 120 years into nine planetary periods: Ketu 7, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17.
Where yours begins
Your sequence starts with the lord of the nakshatra the Moon occupied at birth. How far the Moon had travelled through that nakshatra tells us how much of the first period was already used up.
Periods within periods
Each mahadasha divides into nine antardashas in the same order, each proportional to its planet’s years. A Venus–Saturn period, for example, blends Venus’s themes with Saturn’s.
Reading your period
Ask where the period lord sits in your chart, which houses it rules, and how dignified it is. That is where its themes will show up.