Vimshottari Dasha
The 120-year planetary period cycle that drives Parashari prediction. Vimshottari literally means “consisting of 120”. The cycle assigns specific years to each of nine planets in a fixed sequence, and the SEQUENCE START is determined by the nakshatra the Moon occupies at birth.
The single most important predictive tool in overview-parashari-system. Everything else (transits, vargas, panchang) layers on top of dasha.
The Cycle
| Planet | Years |
|---|---|
| Ketu | 7 |
| Venus | 20 |
| Sun | 6 |
| Moon | 10 |
| Mars | 7 |
| Rahu | 18 |
| Jupiter | 16 |
| Saturn | 19 |
| Mercury | 17 |
Total: 120 years. Sequence is fixed: Ketu → Venus → Sun → Moon → Mars → Rahu → Jupiter → Saturn → Mercury → Ketu …
How the Starting Planet Is Picked
Each of the 27 nakshatras is “owned” by one of the 9 planets (3 nakshatras per planet, repeating the cycle three times across the zodiac). The lord of the nakshatra the Moon occupies at birth becomes the active dasha. The fraction of that nakshatra already traversed at birth determines how much of that planet’s dasha has been “consumed” before birth — the remainder is the dasha starting age.
Example: Moon in Pushya nakshatra (lord: Saturn). Saturn-dasha is active. If 30% of Pushya was traversed at birth, the person has Saturn dasha for 19 × 0.70 = 13.3 years from birth, then Mercury for 17 years, etc.
The Nested Periods
Each mahadasha (main period) breaks into 9 antardashas (sub-periods), each in turn into 9 pratyantardashas, and so on — up to 5 levels deep. Each level’s duration = parent period × (sub-planet’s years / 120).
A practitioner reads the top 2-3 levels (Mahadasha + Antardasha + Pratyantar) for any specific year window.
What Dashas Predict
A dasha doesn’t say “this event happens” — it says “this planet’s themes get activated”:
- Jupiter dasha → expansion, learning, dharma, children, marriage if Jupiter is well-placed
- Saturn dasha → discipline, delay, separation, hard work, structural change
- Rahu dasha → unconventional gain, foreign exposure, ambition spike, illusion
- Ketu dasha → detachment, spiritual turn, sudden disruption, loss/release
- Venus dasha → relationships, art, comfort, vehicles, female-related themes
- Mars dasha → energy, conflict, real estate, surgery, athletic spikes
- Mercury dasha → communication, business, mental work, siblings
- Moon dasha → mind, mother, public, emotional cycles
- Sun dasha → father, authority, government, vitality, ego work
The Calibration
A dasha alone doesn’t fire. The 8 Parashari filters must agree:
- House lordship of the dasha planet (1st = self, 7th = partner, etc.)
- Dispositor (planet ruling the dasha planet’s natal sign)
- Neecha Bhanga (debilitation cancellation)
- MKS (Marak/Karak/Sthanika roles)
- Double-transit confirmation (current Saturn + Jupiter aspects to dasha planet)
- Varga confirmation (D9/D10 strengthening)
- Retrograde modification
- Combustion check
When 5+ filters agree, the dasha event probability is high. 1-2 = noise.
See Also
- overview-parashari-system
- concept-vedic-cosmology (karma theory — why dasha periods correlate with life events)