Vimshottari dasha calculator (mahadasha and antardasha)

How the dasha is calculated

Vimshottari (विंशोत्तरी) means “of 120”: the cycle runs through nine planetary periods that add up to 120 years.

1. Find the Moon’s nakshatra at birth. The calculator works out the Moon’s sidereal position (Lahiri ayanamsa) for your date and time of birth.
2. Take the nakshatra’s lord. The 27 nakshatras are ruled in turn by Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury, three times over. The lord of your birth nakshatra rules your first mahadasha.
3. Work out the balance. If the Moon had already crossed part of the nakshatra, the same part of the first mahadasha is treated as already over. The rest is the balance you were born with.
4. Follow the order. The mahadashas then come in a fixed order: Ketu 7 years, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17.
5. Split each mahadasha into nine antardashas, starting with its own planet. Each lasts mahadasha years × antardasha planet’s years ÷ 120. Pratyantardashas split each antardasha the same way.

Worked example

The nine dasha periods

Mahadasha	Years	Nakshatras it starts from
Ketu	7	Ashwini, Magha, Mula
Venus	20	Bharani, Purva Phalguni, Purva Ashadha
Sun	6	Krittika, Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Ashadha
Moon	10	Rohini, Hasta, Shravana
Mars	7	Mrigashira, Chitra, Dhanishta
Rahu	18	Ardra, Swati, Shatabhisha
Jupiter	16	Punarvasu, Vishakha, Purva Bhadrapada
Saturn	19	Pushya, Anuradha, Uttara Bhadrapada
Mercury	17	Ashlesha, Jyeshtha, Revati

Each dasha lord has its own page in the navagraha section, with its beej mantra, gemstone and the remedies commonly suggested.

Reading your dasha

The dasha tells you whose period you are in; the birth chart tells you what that planet promises. A Jupiter mahadasha, for example, brings Jupiter’s themes of learning, guidance and growth into focus, but how they play out depends on the house Jupiter rules and occupies in your Kundli, and on the transits of the time. The change from one mahadasha to the next is often felt as a change of chapter.

To find your birth nakshatra on its own, use the nakshatra calculator. For what the planets are doing now, see planet positions today.