Kalachakra Dasha

Definition

Kalachakra Dasa is a sign-running "wheel-of-time" period system — the signs themselves run the periods, not the planets. Built from your Navamsa (ninth-harmonic chart), it is keyed to the pada, the quarter of the nakshatra (lunar mansion) your Moon holds at birth. Expounded in BPHS Ch.46, it works two charts — the Savya (clockwise) and Apsavya (anti-clockwise) chakras — where each of the four padas carries a Deha (body) sign and a Jeeva (life) sign. The lords counted from the Deha sign become the Dasa lords, so order and lengths come from the Navamsa.

In Tradition

The classical sources agree that the Deha (body) and Jeeva (life) markers sit at opposite ends in the two chakras. BPHS states that "in the Savya Chakra the first Amsa is called Deha and the last Amsa Jeeva. The opposite is the case in the Apsavya Chakra," and Jataka Parijata likewise that "in the Savya chakra the first division of every Rasi is called Deha and the last is termed Jeeva. In the Apasavya chakra this is reversed."

In Practice

Jyotishis lean on the Kalachakra Dasa for ayurdaya — judging length of life — reading the span from the padas of the birth nakshatra (Jataka Parijata Ch.17; BPHS Ch.46). Affliction of the Deha or Jeeva sign is read for ill health or death: BPHS notes that a conjunction there with the Sun, Mars, Saturn or Rahu points to ill health, timidity or death, while Mercury, Jupiter and Venus bring wealth and good health, and Jataka Parijata holds that malefics at the Deha-Jeeva conjunction give death, benefics happiness. The signs run their Dasas by three gatis (movements) — Mandooki (leaping over a sign), Markati (stepping back to the previous sign), and Simhavlokan (jumping to the 5th and 9th) — and Phaladeepika and Narasimha Rao describe these transitions as bringing woeful or inauspicious effects.

Historical Origin

Parasara sets the system out in the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra (Ch.46; Ch.64-65), where it is revered as supreme among the conditional Dasas and said to have been imparted by Lord Shiva to Goddess Parvati. Vaidyanatha Dikshita treats it as an ayurdaya dasa in Jataka Parijata (Adhyaya XVII), as does Mantreswara in Phaladeepika (Ch.22). Modern authors, including Narasimha Rao and Rao, expound it further.

Further Reading

• Maharshi Parasara, Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra
• Vaidyanatha Dikshita, Jataka Parijata
• Mantreswara, Phaladeepika
• Narasimha Rao, Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach
• K.N. Rao, Predicting through Jaimini's Chara Dasha
• Rao, Yogis, Destiny and the Wheel of Time