UUttanka
Vedic astrology glossary

Vimshottari Dasha

The most common 120-year planetary-period system, keyed to the Moon's birth nakshatra.

Vimshottari ('of 120') is the default dasha system in most Vedic practice. It assigns each of the nine planets a fixed number of years that together total a 120-year cycle: Ketu 7, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17.

Where the cycle starts and how far it has already run is decided by the Moon's exact position within its birth nakshatra — which is why a precise birth time is needed to get the running period right. From there the periods proceed in their fixed order.

Each maha-dasha is divided into nine antardashas in the same proportional order, and those into pratyantardashas, letting an astrologer zoom from a multi-year period down to specific months. It is the backbone of Vedic predictive timing.

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Related terms

DashaAntardashaNakshatra

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