Dashas

When does it happen?

The chart shows what is promised; the dasha shows when. The main system, Vimshottari, divides a 120-year life into nine periods, one ruled by each planet, always in the same order. While a planet's period runs, its themes, and the houses it rules, come forward in your life.

a school timetable. The chart is the list of subjects; the dasha tells you which subject is being taught this year, and which one comes next.

The nine periods in order, sized by their years. Together they make 120 years.

Where you start in the cycle depends on the nakshatra your Moon was in at birth (the nakshatras chapter): its ruler's period is running when you are born, already partly used up by how far the Moon had travelled through that nakshatra. Then the periods follow in order.

An example life. The Moon was in Rohini, ruled by the Moon, with 6 of its 10 years left, so the first period is the Moon's.

Each period is divided again into nine sub-periods (antardashas), in the same order and the same proportions, starting with the period's own planet. Those are divided again (pratyantardashas), and so on down to a few days. This is how an astrologer moves from "this decade" to "this year" to "this month".

The same pattern inside one period: the 20 years of Venus split into nine sub-periods.

Each level can be divided again the same way. Astrologers name five levels, and the smallest lasts only a few days:

Five levels, each a slice of the one above: Mahadasha, Antardasha, Pratyantardasha, Sookshma and Prana. (Bars are drawn smaller at each level so all five stay visible.)

Many dasha systems, not one

Vimshottari is the best known, but it is only one of many timing systems. Some count planets' periods from the Moon's nakshatra, like Vimshottari. Some count signs instead of planets (the Jaimini school's Chara and Narayana). Some are used only when a chart meets a condition: Ashtottari, for instance, when Rahu sits in a particular position. And some run inside a single year, for the annual chart (Tajaka). Their cycles have different lengths:

How long one full cycle of each planet-period system lasts. Pink marks the two most used.

Below is every system, in plain words. The five most used are marked ★: Vimshottari, Yogini, Chara, Narayana and Kalachakra. For conditional systems the card says what switches them on.

Rules are given in their common form from Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and the Jaimini Sutras; schools differ on details.

Dasha systems are not interchangeable. Some belong to one school, some apply only to charts that meet their condition, and some are rarely used. A careful astrologer always says which system, which calculation rule and which tradition a timing comes from, rather than treating every system as valid for every chart. AstroMatch4u uses Vimshottari, the standard default.

your running period and every change ahead are on Dasha Analysis.

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