Planetary periods
Vimshottari Dasha
See your full Vimshottari Mahadasha timeline, with the planet that rules each period of your life and exact start and end dates.
Enter your details below to compute your result.
Vimshottari Dasha is the primary Vedic system of timing. A 120-year cycle divides into nine planetary periods, the Mahadashas, each with a fixed order and length. The nakshatra your Moon occupied at birth sets which one you start in. This reading lists every Mahadasha with its start and end dates, and marks the one running now.
It is the backbone of predictive Jyotish. The ruling Mahadasha shapes the themes of years at a time.
Reading a dasha timeline is how astrologers decide when a chart's promise is likely to show. A planet that sits strong and well placed in your Kundali tends to give its best results while it rules a Mahadasha, and a weak or afflicted one is read more cautiously. Checking your past periods against events you actually remember is the usual way to test a chart before leaning on it for the future.
How to read your result
The planet ruling your current Mahadasha colours the whole period; its sub-periods (Antardashas) refine the timing further inside the full Kundali.
The first period is a partial 'birth balance', the remainder of the Mahadasha already in progress when you were born.
The nine Mahadashas never all complete in one lifetime. A 120-year cycle means most people live through only five or six of them. Watch the handover years. Tradition treats the moment one Mahadasha ends and the next begins as the point where the direction of life visibly shifts, more than the middle of any long period.
How it's calculated
Derived from your Moon's exact nakshatra and the elapsed portion of that nakshatra at birth, using the standard 120-year Vimshottari proportions.
See this inside your full Kundali
This is one section of your birth chart. Generate the complete free Kundali, with charts, dashas, doshas, panchang and more.
Frequently asked questions
What is Vimshottari Dasha?
It is the most widely used Vedic planetary-period system, 120 years split among nine planets, and it times when each planet's results tend to show.
How is the starting Dasha decided?
By the nakshatra your Moon was in at birth; the ruling planet of that nakshatra begins your sequence, with a partial first period.
Do I need my birth time?
Yes. The Moon moves quickly, so accurate dasha dates depend on a correct birth time and place.
How long is each Vimshottari Mahadasha?
The nine periods have fixed lengths: Sun 6 years, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17, Ketu 7 and Venus 20. That is 120 years in all, always run in that order.
What are Antardashas and Pratyantardashas?
Sub-divisions of a Mahadasha. Each Mahadasha splits into nine Antardashas in the same planetary order, and each of those into Pratyantardashas, narrowing the timing from years down to months and weeks.
Can this work without my Moon's nakshatra?
The whole sequence is anchored to the nakshatra your Moon occupied at birth, so the date, exact time and place are all needed. The calculator works the nakshatra out for you from the birth details you enter.