Vimshottari Dasha Calculator
Your mahadasha and antardasha timeline from birth
Updated
Dasha is the system Vedic astrology uses for timing. The Vimshottari dasha divides a 120-year cycle among the nine grahas, and the planet whose period you are in sets the background for that stretch of life. Enter your birth details to see your complete timeline and the periods running today.
Private by design: everything is calculated in your browser. Your birth details are not uploaded, stored or tracked. The only link out is the optional button below the result, which opens the Navagraha app with your details in its address, and only if you click it.
How the periods are worked out
Everything starts from the Moon's sidereal longitude at birth. Its nakshatra decides which planet's period you are born into: Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury take turns, every nakshatra in order handing on to the next planet in that sequence. How far the Moon has travelled through its nakshatra decides how much of that first period is already used up, which gives the balance of dasha at birth.
The planets then follow in fixed order with lengths of 7, 20, 6, 10, 7, 18, 16, 19 and 17 years, totalling 120. Each mahadasha is subdivided into nine antardashas in the same order, in proportion to the planets' years, and each of those into pratyantardashas. This tool uses 365.25-day years, as the Navagraha app does.
How to read the result
The headline gives your balance of dasha at birth and the three periods running now. The table lists all nine mahadashas with start and end dates, with the current one highlighted, and a second table breaks the current mahadasha into antardashas. As a rule of thumb, a mahadasha sets the main theme, the antardasha the current chapter, and the pratyantardasha the weeks and months.
What a planet's period brings depends on that planet's position, sign and house in your own birth chart, so use the dates as the timing frame and the chart as the story.
Why the exact birth time matters
The Moon moves roughly 13 degrees a day, so an error of one hour in the birth time moves the dasha dates by roughly three to ten months depending on the planet, and a wrong day moves them by years. If you tick the unknown-time box this tool uses noon and warns you. Different software also differs slightly in year length (360, 365.25 or 365.2425 days), which can move dates by days over a lifetime.
Accuracy and method
Every figure on this page is calculated in your browser with the same shared astrology library that powers the Navagraha app. Planet positions come from the astronomy-engine library (arc-second class accuracy for the Sun and Moon) and are shifted to the sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa, the standard used by the Government of India and by the Swiss Ephemeris. In practice this agrees with Swiss Ephemeris results for signs, nakshatras and padas, apart from the rare case where a planet sits within a few arc-seconds of a boundary.
Rahu and Ketu use the true node, as in the app; many printed almanacs use the mean node, which can differ by up to about 1.7 degrees. Houses are whole-sign. Vimshottari dasha years are 365.25 days long. If you compare with another site and see a small difference, the node type, the ayanamsa or the birth-time rounding is almost always the reason.
Related guides and tools
Frequently asked questions
What is Vimshottari dasha?
It is a 120-year timing system based on the Moon's nakshatra at birth, in which the nine planets rule successive periods called mahadashas.
How do I find my current mahadasha?
Enter your date, time and place of birth. The result highlights the mahadasha, antardasha and pratyantardasha running today.
Why do dasha dates differ between websites?
Software uses different year lengths, ayanamsas and Rahu node types. This tool uses Lahiri, the true node and 365.25-day years.
Is the dasha the same for everyone born that day?
No. It depends on the Moon's exact position, so people born hours apart can start in different positions within the cycle.
Get your own reading in minutes — free, no download.
Open Navagraha →Navagraha provides Vedic astrology for informational and reflective purposes only; it is not a substitute for professional advice.