Vimshottari dasha explained
A dasha is a planetary period. The Vimshottari system divides a 120-year cycle among nine planets and is the most widely used timing method in Vedic astrology.
The nine periods
The 120 years are divided among the nine planets in a fixed order:
- Ketu: 7 years
- Venus: 20 years
- Sun: 6 years
- Moon: 10 years
- Mars: 7 years
- Rahu: 18 years
- Jupiter: 16 years
- Saturn: 19 years
- Mercury: 17 years
7 + 20 + 6 + 10 + 7 + 18 + 16 + 19 + 17 = 120.
How your first dasha is chosen
The Moon's nakshatra at your birth decides where you enter the cycle. Each of the 27 nakshatras belongs to one of the nine planets, repeating three times. The lord of your Moon's nakshatra is your first dasha. How far the Moon had travelled through that nakshatra decides how much of that first period was already used up, so most people are born in the middle of a dasha, not at its start. This is why the exact Moon position, and therefore the birth time, matters for the exact dates.
Mahadasha and antardasha
The big period is the mahadasha. Inside it are nine sub-periods called antardasha (or bhukti), one for each planet, starting with the mahadasha lord itself. A mahadasha sets the main theme of those years, and the antardasha refines it month by month. For example, a Saturn mahadasha with a Mercury antardasha is read as Saturn's themes coloured by Mercury.
How a dasha is read
A dasha lord is judged by its own chart: which houses it owns and sits in, its sign strength, the planets it is joined with, and its relationship with the ascendant lord. The same planet can bring very different results in two charts. This is why a generic statement such as "Rahu dasha is bad" tells you little.
Check a dasha against your own past
A useful test of any chart reading is to look at your earlier dasha periods and see whether the themes match what happened in your life. Every dasha in our kundli report comes with its start date, end date and your age, and a section on your past lets you test the report before relying on it. Read more about unknown birth times in our guide.
Get your kundli with dasha dates
Astrology is a traditional belief system. This guide explains how the system works and is for information and self-reflection, not a prediction or advice on health, money or law.
By AT Astro · Updated 22 October 2026 · All guides