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Glossary

Antardasha defined: the sub-periods a mahadasha is divided into, the BPHS Ch. 51 rule for their length and order, and how this app dates them inside your running mahadasha.

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In short

An antardasha is a sub-period of a mahadasha. In Vimshottari every mahadasha is shared out among all nine lords in proportion to their own dasha years, starting with the mahadasha lord itself, as BPHS Ch. 51 states. This app computes the antardashas inside each mahadasha so the parts add up exactly to the whole.

What the term means

Antar means "inner", so an antardasha is the period inside a period. It is the second level of a dasha system: a mahadasha is cut into antardashas, each with its own lord, and a timing statement such as "Saturn mahadasha, Mercury antardasha" names both levels. Advanced Predictive Astrology calls the same level the bhukti.

Where the term comes from

BPHS Ch. 51 Sl. 1 gives the arithmetic: multiply the dasha years of the two grahas and divide by the total dasha years of all the grahas. Sl. 2 fixes the order: "the first Antar Dasha belongs to the Lord of the Dasha", and the other eight follow in the dasha sequence. Sl. 5 gives a separate rule for sign-based systems, where a period is cut into twelve equal parts. Chapters 52 to 60 then take the mahadasha lords one by one and describe the antardashas inside each.

How this app computes it

  • Each antardasha's share of its mahadasha is its own lord's Vimshottari years divided by 120, the BPHS Sl. 1 rule written as a fraction.
  • The order starts from the mahadasha's own lord and runs through the fixed nine-lord cycle.
  • Boundaries are placed from cumulative years, so the last antardasha ends on the exact instant the mahadasha ends and no gap opens between two neighbours.
  • The same function cuts each antardasha again into pratyantardashas. For Chara Dasha, a sign-based system, the sub-periods are twelve equal parts instead.

A small illustration

In the chart of 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi, the Mars mahadasha runs from 28 May 2021 to 28 May 2028. The engine opens it with a Mars antardasha to 24 October 2021, then Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury and Ketu. Venus, the longest, runs from 22 April 2026 to 22 June 2027; the Sun and the Moon close the period on 28 May 2028.

Pages that use this term

Related terms

Vimshottari Dasha, Dasha balance and Gochara (transit).

Now on yourself

Vimshottari Dasha

The 120-year cycle of nine lords, dated from the nakshatra your Moon held at birth.

A birth time is optional. Without one this is read at local noon on your birth date - and the Moon moves about 13 degrees in a day, so add the time if you know it.

No place is asked for on this page, so the time is read as Indian Standard Time (IST). Born outside India? Run it on its own page, where you can add the place.

This date is sent only to compute the answer. Nothing is stored, no account is created, and no email is asked for.

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