Dasha Calculator

The calculator converts your birth date and time to Universal Time using the timezone of your birthplace, then computes the Moon's sidereal longitude with the Swiss Ephemeris and the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa, the standard used by the Indian government's Rashtriya Panchang.

The zodiac is divided into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′ each. The nakshatra holding your Moon sets the first Mahadasha lord, and the share of that nakshatra the Moon has not yet crossed sets how much of that first period was still left at birth. A Moon at the very start of Rohini, for example, begins life with almost the full 10-year Moon Mahadasha; a Moon near its end begins with only a few months of it.

From that starting balance the engine lays out the nine Mahadashas in the fixed Vimshottari order. Each Mahadasha is divided into nine Antardashas, and each Antardasha into nine Pratyantardashas, in proportion to each planet's years out of 120. Years are counted as 365.2425 days. If the Swiss Ephemeris is unavailable, a simpler fallback runs and the result is labelled approximate.

Vimshottari Dasha is the planetary period system most widely used in Vedic astrology (Jyotish). Vimshottari means 120: the full cycle lasts 120 years and is shared by nine grahas. The rules come from Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, the classical text attributed to the sage Parashara.

Unlike a transit, which depends on where the planets are today, your Dasha sequence is fixed at birth by the Moon's nakshatra. Astrologers read the running Dasha first to name the chapter of life you are in, then use transits such as Sade Sati for finer timing.

Each planet rules a fixed number of years, always in the same order. The table lists them in sequence; after Mercury the cycle returns to Ketu. Most people live through five to seven Mahadashas, because the first one is usually only partly left at birth.

The Mahadasha is the major period, lasting 6 to 20 years. Inside it run nine Antardashas (also called Bhuktis), starting with the Mahadasha lord itself. Inside each Antardasha run nine Pratyantardashas, which last from a few days to several months.

The length of a sub-period is the Mahadasha's years multiplied by the sub-lord's years, divided by 120. Saturn's Antardasha inside Jupiter's Mahadasha therefore lasts 16 × 19 ÷ 120 = 2.53 years, about two years and six months.

Your Sun sign or Moon sign alone cannot tell you. The answer depends on the exact nakshatra your Moon occupied at birth and how far through it the Moon had travelled, which needs your birth time and place. Enter them above and the result shows the running Mahadasha, Antardasha and Pratyantardasha with their end dates.