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Daśā · विंशोत्तरी

Vimshottari Dasha — the 120 years and how they are counted

The system

Parāśara's daśā chapter names many daśā systems and gives the Vimśottarī first. Its total is 120 years — viṃśottara-śata, 'a hundred and twenty' — distributed among the nine grahas: Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rāhu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17, Ketu 7, Venus 20. The order is fixed; only the starting point varies with the birth.

The start is the Moon. Count from Kṛttikā to the nakṣatra the Moon occupies at birth and divide by nine; the remainder names the first mahādaśā lord. The fraction of that nakṣatra the Moon has yet to traverse, multiplied by the lord's years, is the balance of the first daśā — the part of it that is actually lived.

The nine lords and their years

Sūrya (Sun)
6 yearsBPHS C29.80
Candra (Moon)
10 yearsBPHS C29.80
Maṅgala (Mars)
7 yearsBPHS C29.80
Rāhu
18 yearsBPHS C29.80
Guru (Jupiter)
16 yearsBPHS C29.80
Śani (Saturn)
19 yearsBPHS C29.80
Budha (Mercury)
17 yearsBPHS C29.80
Ketu
7 yearsBPHS C29.80
Śukra (Venus)
20 yearsBPHS C29.80
Total
120BPHS C36.1

In the texts

BPHS C29.78Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra · दशाध्यायः v12, folio 375

आनयनप्रकारं च शृणुष्व द्विजपुङ्गव। नामनक्षत्रपर्य्यन्तमार्क्षादि कृत्तिकादितः।।१२।।

RenderingHear now the method of finding it: count from Kṛttikā to the name-nakṣatra.

BPHS C29.79Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra · दशाध्यायः v13, folio 375

सैषा कृष्णेऽर्कहोरायां चन्द्रहोरागते सिते। दहनात्स्वर्क्षपर्य्यन्तं गणयेन्नवभिर्हरेत्।।१३।।

RenderingCount from Kṛttikā to the birth nakṣatra and divide by nine; the remainder gives the daśā.

BPHS C29.80Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra · दशाध्यायः v14, folio 375

सूर्येन्दुक्ष्माजतमसो वाक्पतिर्मन्दचन्द्रजा। केतुशुक्रौ क्रमादेते विज्ञेयाश्च दशाधिपाः।।१४।।

RenderingThe daśā lords in order: Sūrya, Candra, Maṅgala, Rāhu, Guru, Śani, Budha, Ketu and Śukra.

BPHS C29.81Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra · दशाध्यायः v17, folio 376

स्फुटतरो हि मगुः कलिकात्मकः खखगजैर्विभजेद्गत ऋक्षकम्। तदुडुवर्षगुणां च समादिकं खखगजैर्विभजेत्फलमत्र हि।।१७।।

RenderingOr reduce the exact Moon to minutes and divide by 800: the quotient is the nakṣatras passed; multiply the remainder by the daśā's years and divide by 800 for the years and months already elapsed (bhukta); subtracting from the daśā's years gives what remains to be lived (bhogya).

How to calculate the Vimshottari dasha

  1. Find the nakṣatra the Moon occupies at birth.
  2. Count from Kṛttikā to that nakṣatra and divide by nine; the remainder names the first mahādaśā lord — 1 Sun, 2 Moon, 3 Mars, 4 Rāhu, 5 Jupiter, 6 Saturn, 7 Mercury, 8 Ketu, 0 Venus.
  3. Multiply the untraversed fraction of that nakṣatra by the lord's years: that is the balance of the first daśā.
  4. Lay the remaining lords in the fixed order for their full years, and divide each mahādaśā among the nine in the same order for the antardaśās.

Sub-periods

Every mahādaśā is divided among the nine lords in the same order, each antardaśā lasting the mahādaśā's length × the sub-lord's years ÷ 120; the antardaśā divides again into pratyantardaśās, then sūkṣma and prāṇa daśās by the same proportion. SIA computes the whole tree to the prāṇa level for every chart and reads each period against the placement of its lord.

The chapters on antardaśā results are the largest in the book — several hundred verses stating what each sub-lord's period brings within each major period. SIA's chat and reports cite those rows when a period is asked about.

In the texts

BPHS C36.1Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra · सूक्ष्मान्तरदशाध्यायः v1, folio 561

ग्रहवर्षेण संगुण्यं प्रत्यन्तरघटिकादिकम्। विंशोत्तरशतेनाप्तं सूक्ष्मान्तरदशामितिः।।१।।

Gloss (English)For the planet whose sub-period is to be brought into the sub-sub-period of the planet, the period of that planet multiplied by the sub-period's (hours, etc.) is divided by 1209 to obtain the hour and the remainder is multiplied by 60 and again divided by 120 to obtain the result; this is how the sub-sub-period is calculated.

In SIA

The daśā table — mahādaśā, antardaśā and pratyantardaśā with dates — is part of the free chart view. Timing questions in chat, life graphs and the full report read the running periods against the chart and carry the verses for each.

Questions

Why does my first daśā not last its full years?

Because the Moon was already part-way through its birth nakṣatra. Only the untraversed fraction of that nakṣatra, times the lord's years, remains — Parāśara's bhukta/bhogya rule. A birth at the very start of a nakṣatra gives nearly the full daśā; near its end, only months.

Which nakṣatra is counted — the Moon's or the name's?

The Moon's. The verse says 'nāma-nakṣatra', and in this tradition the name is given from the birth nakṣatra's pāda, so the nakṣatra that gives the name is the janma-nakṣatra itself; the worked example in the text computes the balance from the Moon.

Is the Vimśottarī daśā always applicable?

Parāśara gives conditions under which other daśās apply; the Vimśottarī is the general one and the one SIA runs as the arc of life, with the Kālacakra alongside where the text calls for it.

Which daśā is running now?

The daśā table in SIA's free chart view lists the mahādaśā, antardaśā and pratyantardaśā with their dates, so the running period is read off it directly; chat answers timing questions against it and cites the verse for each lord's period.

See these verses fire on your own chart.

Cast your kundli in SIA — every line of the reading carries the verse it rests on.

Open SIA

Related

Every chip is a real verse id in SIA’s store — the same chips the app prints beside its readings. · Updated

Cite this page as: SIA Vigyan — https://siavigyan.com/learn/vimshottari-dasha