A birth chart shows what is promised. A dasha shows when it is delivered. This is the part of Jyotish that has no equivalent in Western astrology, and it is the reason two people with similar charts have completely different decades.
Your Vimshottari sequence is set by the nakshatra the Moon occupied at your birth, which is why that position is calculated to the degree. The 120-year cycle then runs in fixed order, and each mahadasha subdivides into antardashas and further again.
What you see
Vimshottari, with real dates
Mahadasha, antardasha and pratyantardasha, each with start and end dates rather than durations you have to add up yourself.
Yogini dasha too
The 36-year Yogini cycle alongside Vimshottari, as a second opinion on timing.
The balance you were born with
How much of the first mahadasha had already elapsed at birth, which decides where your timeline starts.
Read against the chart
Each period lord links to what that graha is doing in your chart, because a dasha delivers whatever its lord promised.
What it will not do
A dasha lord gives what its condition allows. A strong, well-placed graha gives its best results in its own period; an afflicted one gives its problems then. The period tells you the timing, not the quality.
Questions
What decides which dasha I was born into?
The nakshatra your Moon occupied at birth. Each of the 27 nakshatras is ruled by one of nine grahas, and that graha’s mahadasha runs first.
How long is a mahadasha?
It depends on the graha: Ketu 7 years, Shukra 20, Surya 6, Chandra 10, Mangal 7, Rahu 18, Guru 16, Shani 19 and Budha 17, totalling 120.
Why do transits not match my experience?
Transits trigger what a dasha has already activated. The same transit during a supportive dasha barely registers and during a difficult one defines the year.
Read more
Other features
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