In Astrology it is understood that at any point
of time nature is governed by a planet and the position of that planet
in the horoscope determines how the native will feel or behave.
This chapter details the calculation of the planet acting at any point
of time and the period for which the planet rules.
To predict the past present and future, saints evolved the system
of "Dasha" or period. Any planet influences someone more than others at
some point of time, than the other planet takes over and so on.
Many dasha systems have been described as many as 42. but the most
common and -popular dasha system is "Vimshottari". As the name suggests,
the complete cycle of dasha is of 120 years. All the nine planets take
part in this system. The periods and the constellation assigned to them
is as follows:
Table 1
| Planet |
Constellation |
Year |
| Sun |
Krittika, U. phalguni, Uttarashada |
6 |
| Moon |
Rohini, Hasta, Shravana |
10 |
| Mars |
Mrigshira, Chitra, Dhanistha |
7 |
| Rahu |
Ardra, Swati, Satbhisha |
18 |
| Jupiter |
Punarvasu, Vishakha, P. bhadrapada |
16 |
| Saturn |
Pushya, Anuradha, U. bhadrapada |
19 |
| Mercury |
Ashlesha, jyestha, Revati |
17 |
| Ketu |
Magha, Mool, Ashwin |
7 |
| Venus |
P. phalugni, Purva Ashada, Bharani |
20 |
At the time of birth of the native, the constellation occupied by the
Moon determines which planet will rule at that time. The fraction of
the constellation balance at that time determines the "balance of
dasha", that is the time period for which the planet will rule after
birth. After the end of the ruling period of that planet, other planets
rule one by one in the cyclic order as listed in table 1.
Let us understand it by an example. In the model horoscope in the
previous issue, we have date of birth 15-1-1970, time 4.30 A.M. and
place of birth Delhi. on this date and time Moon's degree is Aries 90
36' , that is, it is in Ashwini nakshatra. Ashwini starts at 00 Aries
and extends upto 13020' Of Aries. This way moon has crossed 90 36' of
Aries and has 130 20' - 90 36' = 30 44' still to go. From table-I we
find Ashwini is represented by Ketu having a period of 7 years. Hence
the native was born when ketu was ruling and it had a balance of dasa.
30 44' x 7 years = 1.96 years
130 20' = 1 year 16 months 16 days
Adding this period to date of birth, we get ( 15 - 1 - 1970 ) + ( 16 - 11 - 1 ) = ( 1 - 1 - 1972 )
i.e. the native experienced influence of Ketu for 1 year 16 months 16
days from birth till
1 Jan. 1972. Thereafter, according to table 1, was under the influence
of Venus for 20 years upto 1-1-1992; followed by Sun for 6 years upto
1-1-1998, then by Moon for 10 years 1-1-2008 and so on.
Note that the period of 1 year 11 months 16 days is called
the balance of 7 years of ketu 20 years of Venus etc. are called dasha
periods.
Thus we compute the dasha periods for nature as follows :
Balance of dasha : 1 year 11 months 16 days, of Ketu.
| Date Of Birth |
15 - 1 - 1970 |
| |
|
| Balance of Ketu |
16 - 11 - 1 |
| |
1 - 1 - 1972 |
| Venus |
20 |
| |
1 - 1 - 1992 |
| Sun |
6 |
| |
1 - 1 - 1998 |
| Moon |
10 |
| |
1 - 1 - 2008 |
| Mars |
7 |
| |
1 - 1 - 2015 |
| Rahu |
18 |
| |
1 - 1 - 2033 |
| Jupiter |
16 |
| |
1 - 1 - 2049 |
| Saturn |
19 |
| |
1 - 1 - 2068 |
| Mercury |
17 |
| |
1 - 1 - 2085 |
No one will be satisfied if we tell him how he will go through his
next 10 or 20 years in nut shell. He would want to know the effects of
events in detail. So the above dashas are further subdivided into sub
periods or Antar dashas. During the planet's dasha, antar dasha starts
from planet itself, followed by the same sequence as given in table I.
The period is also subdivided into the same fractions as assigned in
table No. 1. In brief sun rules for 6 years. Sun will have its own sub
period first for 6x6/120 = 36/120 years = (36 x 12)/120 = 3 months 18 days
After this will come Moon's sub period. Moon represents 10 years out
of total span of 120 years of Vimshottari dasa. So it will rule for
1/12th part of the total period of 6 years of Sun .
Thus Moon will have sub period of 6 x 10/120 = ½ = 6 months
In a similar manner we can compute sub periods of all the planets while major influence of other planet is there.
Table 2 : Vimshottari Sub Periods
| Planet |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Rahu |
Jupiter |
Saturn |
Mer |
Ketu |
Ven |
| Year |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Month |
3 |
6 |
4 |
10 |
9 |
11 |
10 |
4 |
0 |
| Day |
18 |
0 |
6 |
24 |
18 |
12 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
Sub periods of Moon Dasha
| Planet |
Moon |
Mars |
Rahu |
Jupiter |
Saturn |
Mer |
Ketu |
Ven |
Sun |
| Year |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Month |
10 |
7 |
6 |
4 |
7 |
5 |
7 |
8 |
6 |
| Day |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Sub periods of Mars Dasha
| Planet |
Mars |
Rahu |
Jupiter |
Saturn |
Mer |
Ketu |
Ven |
Sun |
Moon |
| Year |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Month |
4 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
11 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
7 |
| Day |
27 |
18 |
6 |
9 |
27 |
27 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
Sub periods of Rahu Dasha
| Planet |
Rahu |
Jupiter |
Saturn |
Mer |
Ketu |
Ven |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
| Year |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Month |
8 |
4 |
10 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
6 |
0 |
| Day |
12 |
24 |
6 |
18 |
18 |
0 |
24 |
0 |
18 |
Sub periods of Jupiter Dasha
| Planet |
Jupiter |
Saturn |
Mer |
Ket |
Ven |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Rahu |
| Year |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| Month |
1 |
6 |
3 |
11 |
8 |
9 |
4 |
11 |
4 |
| Day |
18 |
12 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
18 |
0 |
6 |
24 |
Sub periods of Saturn Dasha
| Planet |
Saturn |
Mer |
Ketu |
Ven |
Sun |
Mon |
Mars |
Rahu |
Jupiter |
| Year |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Month |
0 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
11 |
7 |
1 |
10 |
6 |
| Day |
3 |
9 |
9 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
9 |
6 |
12 |
Sub periods of Mercury Dasha
| Planet |
Mer |
Ketu |
Ven |
Sun |
Mon |
Mars |
Rahu |
Jupiter |
Saturn |
| Year |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Month |
4 |
11 |
10 |
10 |
5 |
11 |
6 |
3 |
8 |
| Day |
27 |
27 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
27 |
18 |
6 |
9 |
Sub periods of Ketu Dasha
| Planet |
Ketu |
Ven |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Rahu |
Jupiter |
Saturn |
Mer |
| Year |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Month |
4 |
2 |
4 |
7 |
4 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
11 |
| Day |
27 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
27 |
18 |
6 |
9 |
27 |
Sub periods of Venus Dasha
| Planet |
Ven |
Sun |
Mon |
Mars |
Rahu |
Jupiter |
Sat |
Mer |
Ket |
| Year |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
| Month |
4 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
10 |
2 |
| Day |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
To compute the table 2, the basic formula is :
Sub period of a planet = (period of major planet x period of sub planet/120 years.)
Since 1 year contains 12 months, the above formula reduces to
Sub period = (period of major planet x period of sub planet/10) in months.
We multiply the two periods and put a decimal after one digit from
the right. The whole number so obtained gives in the months for the
antar dasha and the traditional part multiplied by 3 gives the number of
days for of the sub period.
Sun's sub period in Maha dasha of Sun will be 6 x 6 = 36 putting decimal It is 3.6 months.
By multiplying decimal part by 3 we get 3.6 x 3 = 3 months 18 days
Sub-Sub Periods :
For further refining the results, we can divide the sub periods into
sub-sub periods (Pratyantar Dasha) and sub-sub-sub periods (Sookshma
Dasha) or even further adopting the same procedure as for sub period.
The formula for sub-sub period will be :
Sub-sub period
= (Period of major (Pratyantar Dasha) planet x period of sub planet x period of sub-sub planet) /(120x120) years
= (Period of major planet x period of sub planet x period of sub-sub planet) / 1200 months
Sub-sub-sub period =
(Period of major (Sookshma Dasha) planet x period of sub planet x period
of sub-sub planet x period of sub-sub-sub planet)/(120x120x120) years.
= (Period of major planet x period of sub planet x period of sub-sub
planet x period of sub-sub-sub planet)/ (1200x120) months.
= (Period of major planet x period of sub planet x period of sub-sub
planet x period of sub-sub-sub planet)/ 40 days
The smallest sub-sub-sub period is of Sun-Sun-Sun -Sun, which is (6 x
6 x 6 x 6)/400 If we go one step deep we get Prana dasha of
Sun-Sun-Sun-Sun-Sun = 3.24 x 6 = .162 days = 4 hours. only 120
Though mathematically it seems to be viable to go even further down
the step, however these, calculation is highly susceptible to errors
because of inherent errors in time of birth and we do not suggest at all
to go beyond 5 levels. Even 5th level is normally inaccurate enough to
make it absurd. 1 minute of time causes 30" = 1/2 of error in Moon. This
shifts the dasha of sun by
( 6 years x 365 days x 24 hours 1) / ( 130 201 x 60 2 ) = 33 hours
Whereas the entire pran dasha of Sun is only x 4 hours, the
difference of 33 hours further gets amplified to 110 hours, that is 5
days if the Moon is in the constellation of Venus at the time of birth.
Note : While computing dasha dates we add days to
days, months to months and years to years. If days are more than 30, we
take a carry over of 1 to months and similarly if months are more than
12 we take a carry over of 1 to year. Here we do not take into account
the actual number. of days in a month.
It seems that we are taking a year as 360 days only - 12 months x 30
days per month. However, this is a wrong understanding. Actually, we are
dividing the year into months by multiplying by 12 and further
converting into days by multiplying of 30. we add up in the same manner.
So it is not correct to add by taking actual days of months into
consideration. This simplicity of calculation takes the year as 365.25
days. The actual dates computed by rigorous calculations by taking
actual days of the months and by this simple method differ only by a few
days; accurate practically for all astrological purposes.
For a thought : There are many inherent problems
with dasha calculation. Dasha changes very fast with the absolute value
of Moon's position. It does not depend upon any other value and doubt in
the value of ayanamsa makes it almost useless. Secondly, there are so
many dasha systems and it is not known which dasha should be applied
when. Thirdly, the periods assigned to different planets seem to be
quite adhoc and no reasoning is available anywhere. This makes the dasha
system very doubtful and the transit of planets seems to give a much
better method of timing an event. Yet, it is difficult to deny the
system of dasha. often it seems to be giving results with undoubted
accuracy.
