Vimshottari Dasha Calculator
See which planetary period is running in your chart right now. Vimshottari is the dasha system almost all Vedic prediction rests on — a 120-year cycle of nine planetary periods whose starting point is set by the exact position of your Moon within its nakshatra.
What this calculator works out
- The running mahadasha
- Which planetary major period you are in, with its start and end years.
- The antardasha and pratyantardasha
- The sub-period and sub-sub-period, with exact dates.
- The next few sub-periods
- A forward window so you can see what is coming and when it changes.
How it works
Each of the 27 nakshatras is ruled by one of nine planets, and each planet is allotted a fixed span — Ketu 7 years, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17. The proportion of your birth nakshatra the Moon had already crossed decides how much of the first period was already spent, which is the dasha balance. Everything after that follows in fixed order, so the whole sequence falls out of one precise longitude.
Step by step
- The Moon's exact sidereal longitude is computed from your birth details.
- That gives the birth nakshatra and, crucially, how far into it the Moon had already travelled.
- The nakshatra's ruling planet starts the sequence; the fraction already travelled is the portion of that period already spent at birth.
- The remaining balance is added to your birth date to find when the second mahadasha begins.
- The nine planets then run in fixed order — Ketu 7, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17 years.
- Each mahadasha subdivides into nine antardashas in the same order and the same proportions.
A worked example
Input: Moon in Revati, 6.49° into a 13°20' nakshatra
- Revati is ruled by Mercury, whose mahadasha runs 17 years
- Fraction already travelled = 6.49 ÷ 13.333 = 0.487
- Portion already spent = 0.487 × 17 = 8.28 years
- Balance at birth = 17 − 8.28 = 8.72 years of Mercury
Result: Mercury mahadasha runs from birth for about 8 years 9 months, then Ketu for 7 years, then Venus for 20, and so on.
How to read your result
- Both levels are named for a reason
- A reading says "Jupiter mahadasha, Saturn antardasha" because the major period sets the theme and the sub-period sets the current texture. The same mahadasha feels different under different antardashas.
- A malefic period is not automatically bad
- What a period delivers depends on where that planet sits in your chart, what it rules, and how it is aspected. A well-placed Saturn period can be the most productive stretch of a life.
- The 120 years is a scheme, not a lifespan
- It is simply what the nine allotments sum to. The system runs on past it if needed.
What changes the answer
- This is the calculation most sensitive to birth time after the ascendant. The Moon moves about half a degree an hour, and a nakshatra is 13°20' wide — so an hour of error shifts every period by roughly a month, and the errors accumulate down the sequence.
- Vimshottari is the default in modern Indian practice, but Yogini, Ashtottari and Chara dashas exist and have their own conditions for use.
- Dates are computed on a 360-day year convention in some software and 365.25 in others, which produces small differences between sources.
- The dasha names a period. What happens inside it is read from the chart, not from the name.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Vimshottari dasha?
A planetary period. The system divides a notional 120-year lifespan among the nine grahas in a fixed order and fixed proportions, and the period running at any moment is read as the planet currently colouring your life.
What is the difference between mahadasha and antardasha?
The mahadasha is the major period, lasting from 6 to 20 years depending on the planet. Each mahadasha subdivides into nine antardashas in the same planetary order, proportioned the same way — so a reading usually names both, as in "Jupiter mahadasha, Saturn antardasha".
Why does my dasha need an exact birth time?
Because the starting balance comes from the Moon's exact degree within its nakshatra. The Moon moves about half a degree an hour, and a nakshatra is 13°20' wide — so an hour of error shifts every subsequent period by roughly a month, and the errors accumulate down the sequence.
Does a "malefic" mahadasha mean a bad period?
Not on its own. What the period delivers depends on where that planet sits in your chart, what it rules, and how it is aspected. A well-placed Saturn period can be the most productive stretch of a life; a badly placed Jupiter one need not be easy.
Are there other dasha systems?
Many — Yogini, Ashtottari, Chara and others, each with its own conditions for use. Vimshottari is the default in almost all modern Indian practice, which is why it is the one implemented here.
Why is Vimshottari 120 years?
It is a scheme, not a life expectancy. The 120-year total is what the nine planetary allotments sum to, and the system simply runs on past it if needed.
Related astrology concepts
- Your nakshatra — the placement that starts the entire sequence
- Sade Sati — a transit, read alongside the running dasha
- Planetary positions — where the dasha lord actually sits
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