Article text is currently English only. The calculation below and the rest of the interface follow your chosen language.
In short
Chara Dasha is a timing system whose periods belong to signs, not planets. The sequence starts at the Ascendant sign and runs forward or backward by the Pad of the 9th sign, and each sign's period lasts as many years as the count from it to its lord, less one. This app computes it from BPHS Ch. 46 when the birth time is known.
What the term means
A dasha divides a life into periods. In Vimshottari each period belongs to a planet and the order comes from the Moon's nakshatra. In Chara Dasha each period belongs to a sign (rashi), the order comes from the Ascendant, and the length of each period comes from where that sign's lord sits. The shared word "chara" with the chara karakas is the only thing the two have in common.
Where the term comes from
BPHS Ch. 46 Sl. 158-166 gives the length: the number of signs counted from a sign to the sign occupied by its lord, with a lord in its own sign giving 12 years. Sl. 167 gives the direction: if the sign in the 9th house is in an odd Pad the count runs forward from the Lagna, if even, in reverse. The same passage sets tests for choosing between two lords of Scorpio and of Aquarius, and adds a year for an exalted graha and deducts one for a debilitated one. Ch. 51 Sl. 5 divides each period into twelve equal sub-periods.
How this app uses it
- Direction follows the Pad of the 9th sign, as Sl. 167 says, not the parity of the Ascendant.
- The count is inclusive and the period is the count less one; a lord in its own sign gives 12.
- Scorpio counts to Mars or Ketu, and Aquarius to Saturn or Rahu, by the sloka's tests in its own order.
- A year is added when the graha counted to is exalted and deducted when it is debilitated. A period can come out at zero years; it is listed, not dropped.
- Sub-periods start at the sign after the dasha sign and end with the dasha sign itself. Without an Ascendant the dasha is not computed.
A small illustration
For 19 January 1985, 11:14 IST, New Delhi, Pisces rises and the 9th sign, Scorpio, is in an odd Pad, so the sequence runs forward. Pisces comes first: its lord Jupiter is in Capricorn, giving 2 years, less 1 because Jupiter is debilitated there, so 1 year (1985-1986). Aries follows with 10 years (1986-1996). Sagittarius, counted to the same debilitated Jupiter, comes out at 0 years.
Pages that use this term
- Chara Dasha calculator - your twelve sign periods with dates and sub-periods.
- Antardasha and pratyantar - how sub-periods work across dasha systems.
- When the birth time is unknown - why Chara Dasha needs an Ascendant.
- Aries (Mesha Rashi) - a sign page that reads its own Chara Dasha period.
- Alternate dashas calculator - the nakshatra-based systems, for contrast.
Related terms
Dasha, rashi drishti, odd and even signs, uchcha, neecha and Jaimini system.
Jaimini Chara Dasha
Twelve sign-periods from your Ascendant, each sized from the count to its lord's sign.
What it needs
Date, time and place
That is more than this article asks for - it only ever takes a date, and sometimes a time, and never a name or a birth place. So this one runs on its own page, which asks for exactly what it needs and stores none of it.
Run it on its own page