Daśā Reference
Viṁśottarī construction, subdivision, the chapter map for all eighty-one Antardaśās, and the stopping rule.
Drawn from BPHS 48, BPHS 49, BPHS 50, BPHS 51, BPHS 52, BPHS 53, BPHS 54, BPHS 55, BPHS 56, BPHS 57, BPHS 58, BPHS 59, BPHS 60, BPHS 61, BPHS 62, BPHS 63, BPHS 64, BPHS 65, BPHS 66, BPHS 67. Ch. 48 · Ch. 49 · Ch. 50 · Ch. 51 · Ch. 52 · Ch. 53 · Ch. 54 · Ch. 55 · Ch. 56 · Ch. 57 · Ch. 58 · Ch. 59 · Ch. 60 · Ch. 61 · Ch. 62 · Ch. 63 · Ch. 64 · Ch. 65 · Ch. 66 · Ch. 67
The chain, in order
Natal promise → Mahādaśā → Antardaśā → Pratyantardaśā where warranted → likely activated themes.
The first step is not optional. Nothing gets timed that was not promised.
Period lengths — BPHS 48.15
| Lord | Years | Lord | Years | Lord | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | 6 | Rahu | 18 | Mercury | 17 |
| Moon | 10 | Jupiter | 16 | Ketu | 7 |
| Mars | 7 | Saturn | 19 | Venus | 20 |
Total 120 — which is what Viṁśottarī, “twenty over a hundred”, names.
Cycle order: Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury. From Ashwini, repeating three times across the twenty-seven nakshatras. BPHS 48.12–14 states the same cycle beginning from Krittika with the Sun.
Balance at birth — BPHS 48.16
Consumed = the lord’s years × (Bhayāta ÷ Bhabhoga)
Balance = the full period − consumed
Bhayāta is the elapsed portion of the birth nakshatra; Bhabhoga is its full span of 13°20′.
The first Mahādaśā is almost always partial — the cycle was already running and birth joins it part-way through.
Subdivision — BPHS 53.1–2, 63.1, 65.1
Any sub-period = parent period × the sub-lord’s years ÷ 120.
The same rule at every level. The sub-sequence always begins with the parent lord itself and then follows the standard cycle order.
| Level | Chapter | Typical span |
|---|---|---|
| Mahādaśā | 48–50 | years to decades |
| Antardaśā | 53–62 | months to years |
| Pratyantardaśā | 63 | weeks to months |
| Sūkṣma | 64 | days to weeks |
| Prāṇa | 65 | hours |
Landmarks: longest Antardaśā is Venus in Venus, 3 years 4 months. Shortest is Sun in Sun, about 110 days. Jupiter takes about 1/7.5 of any Mahādaśā, Venus about 1/6, the Sun about 1/20 — useful for checking a printed table in your head.
The stopping rule
Nothing in the arithmetic says where to stop. The limit comes from the birth data and from how far an inference chain carries.
| Birth time quality | Go to |
|---|---|
| Document, to the minute | Pratyantardaśā |
| Five to ten minutes | Antardaśā; third level as soft indication only |
| To the hour, or family memory | Mahādaśā at most, stated as such |
| “Morning” | Do not subdivide. The starting lord itself may be wrong |
Precision of arithmetic is not precision of prediction. A five-level subdivision computed from a birth time wrong by ten minutes is immaculate and meaningless.
State period boundaries as months, not dates — the year-length convention alone (365.25 vs 365.2422) shifts them measurably across a full cycle.
How to read a period
Mahādaśā — read through what the lord rules in this chart (Ch. 50), then through the lord’s own condition (Ch. 49). Never through the planet’s name.
Most planets rule two houses. A daśā delivers both. Describe the tension rather than resolving it.
Antardaśā — five factors (Ch. 54): the Antardaśā lord’s dignity; its house from the Lagna; its house from the Mahādaśā lord; its lordships, especially the 2nd and 7th; its conjunctions and aspects.
A node’s period — read through the dispositor and any conjunct planet. The node supplies intensity; the dispositor supplies the subject matter (Ch. 36.16).
House-lord daśās — BPHS 50.2–8
| Lord’s daśā | Indication |
|---|---|
| 1st | sound health, high fame |
| 2nd | conflict, fear of death |
| 3rd | unfavourable |
| 4th | comfort of house and land |
| 7th | danger to spouse, fear of death |
| 8th | loss of wealth, danger to life |
| 9th | substantial gain of wealth and fame |
| 10th | recognition from the state or authorities |
Modifiers (50.9–17): a daśā lord conjunct the 5th or 9th lord delivers better. Conjunction with the 9th lord makes a period exceedingly good. A Duḥsthāna lord conjunct a Trikoṇa lord gives an auspicious period.
Trikoṇa contact is the general improver — which is Week 6’s Rāja Yoga doctrine in a timing key.
Antardaśā chapter map
| Mahādaśā | Chapter | Mahādaśā | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | 54 | Saturn | 59 |
| Moon | 55 | Mercury | 60 |
| Mars | 56 | Ketu | 61 |
| Rahu | 57 | Venus | 62 |
| Jupiter | 58 |
Within each, entries run in cycle order beginning from the Mahādaśā lord itself. Two facts and you can find any of the eighty-one combinations in under a minute.
Ch. 54–62 carry the largest block of non-Parashara material in the book — the translator citing Varāhamihira, Kalyāṇavarmā, Mantreśvara and his own practice, per the Volume 2 preface. Ch. 59 is the densest. Check the labelling before citing.
Other systems
Conditional systems — each has a stated condition. Aṣṭottarī (48.17–23), Ṣoḍaśottarī (48.24–26), Dvādaśottarī (48.27–28), Pañchottarī (48.29–31) and others. When someone applies one, ask whether the chart meets the condition.
Kālachakra — built on the Moon’s Navāṁśa pada. Construction Ch. 48, results Ch. 51, subdivisions Ch. 66–67. Four times more birth-time sensitive than Viṁśottarī. Not taught in this course.
Chara — sign-based, read from the running sign as a temporary anchor. Ch. 52. Not taught in this course.
Retrospective versus prospective
Retrospective agreement is weak evidence. A chart contains enough factors that some account fits most events.
A retrospective that fails is informative — the construction pressure works against you.
A prospective statement is the strong test.
When a reading is wrong, identify the failed step: 4 (wrong houses), 5 (lordships), 8 (condition), 11 (promise), or 12 (period read by name). It is usually 11.