Vimshottari Dasha

The main Vedic timing system: a 120-year cycle of planetary periods (dashas), seeded by the Moon's nakshatra at birth, that marks which planet 'rules' each stretch of life.

Vimshottari is the most widely used dasha (planetary-period) system in Vedic astrology. It divides a notional 120-year lifespan among nine planetary lords, each with a fixed length: Ketu 7, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17. The lords always run in that order. Where you enter the cycle is set entirely by the Moon. Its nakshatra at birth picks the starting lord, and how far it has moved through that nakshatra sets how much of that first period remains. From there the periods run in sequence. Each major period (mahadasha) is subdivided into nine sub-periods (antardashas) in the same order and proportion, so the system nests to whatever resolution you want. All of it is arithmetic once the Moon's sidereal position is known — the dates are computed and reproducible. What a Venus or Saturn period is said to bring is interpretation. Because the seed is the Moon, which moves quickly, the timeline is precise only when the birth time is known; without it, the dates should be treated as approximate.

Not: A dasha is not a forecast of events. It names a planetary 'season' and the themes traditionally associated with that planet; it does not say what will happen or when within the period. It is one timing lens among several in this reading, not a standalone prediction.

The dasha dates are exact arithmetic from the birth Moon, but the system rests on a 120-year template and a fixed order that are traditional conventions, not empirically demonstrated cycles. Treat the periods as a reflective frame, and as approximate when the birth time is unknown.