Vimshottari Dasha

vim-SHO-tta-ree DA-sha

sanskrit: विंशोत्तरी दशा (Viṃśottarī Daśā)

Definition

Vimshottari Dasha is the chief 120-year timing system of Vedic astrology — a sequence of planetary periods (dashas) keyed to the nakshatra, the lunar mansion, that the Moon sits in at birth. It is also called the Nakshatra Dasha or Udu Dasha. Each of the nine grahas (planets) rules a fixed, unequal stretch of years in a set order, and which one runs at birth depends on the Moon's nakshatra. The system nests: a major period (Maha Dasha) divides into a Bhukti (Antardasha), then finer sub-periods, letting you time when a planet's promised results unfold.

In Tradition

Both classical and modern Jyotish texts treat Vimshottari as the foremost dasha for people in general, because its 120-year span is taken as the natural human life-span in the Kaliyuga (the present age). The period running at birth, and each one after it, is keyed to the Moon's birth nakshatra and to the graha that rules that nakshatra.

In Practice

A jyotishi (Vedic astrologer) first finds the Moon's birth nakshatra, the Janma Nakshatra; its ruling graha gives the dasha you are born into, and how much of that period remains is read from how far the Moon has moved through the nakshatra. The A-class translations fix each graha's term. In the Jataka Parijata, counting the stars from Krittika in groups of nine, the Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Ketu and Venus rule for 6, 10, 7, 18, 16, 19, 17, 7 and 20 years — totalling 120 (BPHS Ch.46 gives the same lords and years, also from Krittika). You then read the timing through the nested levels — Maha Dasha, Bhukti/Antardasha, Pratyantardasha and finer — each sub-period found by multiplying the parent period by a planet's dasa years and dividing by 120. Sources differ on where to begin: Jataka Parijatha XVIII.33 (Rath) takes the strongest of four stars; Light on Life begins the sequence Ketu, Venus, Sun.

Historical Origin

Vimshottari is set out in classical Sanskrit texts, among them the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Ch.46, 61-63; attributed to Parasara), the Jataka Parijata (Adhyaya XVIII; Vaidyanatha Dikshita) and the Uttara Kalamrita (Ch.VI; Kalidasa), with the starting-star rule cited from the Jataka Parijatha. Modern authors who develop it include Frawley, Levacy, Raman, Charak, Harness, deFouw and Svoboda, Ponde, Rayudu, Murthy and Narasimha Rao.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading