Dasha, the dated chapters of your chart

Dasha questions

What is a dasha in Vedic astrology?+

A dasha is a dated planetary period. Each one hands a stretch of your life to a single planet, and the themes of that planet, by sign, house and rulership in your chart, become the working material of those years.

How is my dasha sequence calculated?+

From the exact longitude of the Moon at birth. The Moon's nakshatra sets which planet's period you were born into, and how far through that nakshatra the Moon had travelled sets how much of that period was already spent. Everything after it follows the fixed Vimshottari order.

How long does a mahadasha last?+

Between six and twenty years, depending on the planet. Sun rules six years, Moon ten, Mars seven, Rahu eighteen, Jupiter sixteen, Saturn nineteen, Mercury seventeen, Ketu seven and Venus twenty, which is one hundred and twenty years in total.

What are antardasha and pratyantardasha?+

Sub-periods. Every mahadasha is divided into nine antardashas in the same planetary order, and each antardasha divides again into pratyantardashas. The mahadasha is the chapter, the antardasha the scene, the pratyantardasha the moment.

Does a difficult dasha mean bad things will happen?+

No. A period shows what a planet is being asked to work on, based on where it sits in your chart. A demanding dasha usually means effort concentrates in a specific area of life, and knowing which area in advance is the practical value of the system.

Do I need my exact birth time for dasha dates?+

For accurate dates, yes. The Moon moves about thirteen degrees a day, so an hour of error can shift period boundaries by months. The order of the periods still holds, but the dates are only as precise as your birth time.