The Vedic Dashas

A dasha is a period system — the engine that tells Jyotish when. Where the grahas, rashis, and bhavas describe what a birth chart promises, the dashas unfold that promise across a lifetime, handing each stretch of years to a particular planet or sign so its significations ripen in their season. The great majority of charts are read through the Vimshottari dasha, a 120-year cycle keyed to the nakshatra the Moon occupies at birth — but the classical literature preserves many more.

The systems below fall into families. The udu (nakshatra) dashas assign fixed spans to the nine grahas and begin from the Moon's nakshatra — Vimshottari is universal, while Ashtottari, Yogini, and the conditional nakshatra dashas (Shodashottari, Dwadashottari, Panchottari, Shatabdika, Chaturashiti-sama, Dwisaptati-sama, Shashtihayani, Shattrimsha-sama) apply only when a chart meets a stated birth condition. Kalachakra works on a different principle entirely — nakshatra-pada and sign, not planet — and Chara dasha belongs to the parallel Jaimini system, giving its periods to signs rather than planets.