Vimshottari Dasha: The 120-Year System, Order & Planet Periods

Jyotiṣa · Timing System

Vimśottarī is the master timing system of Parāśara’s Jyotiṣa — a 120-year cycle of nine planetary periods, run in a fixed order, anchored to the exact nakṣatra your Moon occupied at birth.

Karma JyotiṣaReference≈ 5 min

Every graha rules a fixed number of years, and the sum is exactly 120 — a full symbolic lifetime. Which period you are born into, and where in it, is set by your Moon’s nakṣatra. From there the sequence never changes.

01The nine periods, in order

Vimśottarī mahādaśā lengths
GrahaPeriodSignifies
Ketuketu7 yearsDetachment, endings and the inward pull.
Śukravenus20 yearsRelationships, comfort and the arts.
Sūryasun6 yearsAuthority, the ego and the father-principle.
Candramoon10 yearsThe emotional mind, mother and inner tides.
Maṅgalamars7 yearsDrive, courage and open conflict.
Rāhurahu18 yearsAmbition and the unorthodox.
Gurujupiter16 yearsWisdom, dharma and expansion.
Śanisaturn19 yearsDiscipline, delay and endurance.
Budhamercury17 yearsIntellect, speech and commerce.
Total cycle120 yearsKetu → Venus → … → Mercury, then repeats.

Order: Ketu · Venus · Sun · Moon · Mars · Rāhu · Jupiter · Saturn · Mercury. Each mahādaśā subdivides into nine antardaśās in the same order.

02How your starting point is fixed

At birth, your Moon sits in one of the 27 nakṣatras, each ruled by a graha. That ruler’s daśā is the one you are born into — and how far the Moon has travelled through the nakṣatra decides how much of it remains. Everything after runs in the fixed order.

This is why timing in Jyotiṣa is computational, not intuitive: given an exact birth moment, the entire 120-year map is determined.

See your exact Vimśottarī Mahādaśā

Give your birth date, time and place, and Karma Jyotiṣa computes your real Vimśottarī timeline — every antardaśā start and end date, keyed to your Moon’s nakṣatra.

Find yours today →

03Common questions

Why 120 years?

It is the sum of the nine planetary allotments (7+20+6+10+7+18+16+19+17) — a symbolic full lifespan in the Parāśara system.

Which daśā am I running now?

That depends on your birth Moon’s nakṣatra and the time elapsed since. Karma Jyotiṣa computes your current mahādaśā and antardaśā with exact dates, free.

Aditya Sharma

Written by

Aditya Sharma

I built Karma Jyotisha because most “AI astrology” online is a chatbot improvising. This site runs real Vimśottarī daśā and nakṣatra math off Maharṣi Parāśara’s BPHS — computed, not guessed. I’m an engineer, not a professional astrologer, so I treat this as a calculation tool, not a fortune-teller — and say so on every page.