Lesson 8 of 14
The Vimshottari dasha, and how to read "running Budhan"
A life divided into nine planetary periods, started by the birth star and laid end to end.
Today Budhan – Rahu until 2027-05-01 · Budhan dasha ends 2032-04-15, then Ketu
Hover or tap a period to read its dates.
A birth chart stays the same for life, yet life does not feel the same from one decade to the next. The system explains the change: at any moment one graha is in charge, and its matters come to the front. The system used everywhere in the South is , "of 120", because its nine periods add up to 120 years.
The nine periods
The periods always run in the same order and with the same lengths: 7 years, 20, 6, 10, 7, 18, 16, 19 and 17. After Budhan the cycle returns to Ketu. Each of these is a , a main period.
Where a life starts
The birth star decides the first period. Each star has a lord, in the same order: Aswini is Ketu’s, Bharani Sukran’s, Karthigai Suriyan’s, and so on. The life begins in the mahadasha of the birth star’s lord. How much of that period is left depends on how far the Moon had already travelled through the star: a Moon at the very start of its star gets the whole period, a Moon near the end gets only the last part. What is left is the at birth, printed on every Tamil horoscope.
In the sample chart the Moon is in , whose lord is Sani, only a little way into the star. So the life begins with almost nineteen years of Sani, from 1996 to April 2015. Budhan follows for seventeen years, to April 2032, then Ketu, then Sukran.
Bhuktis inside the periods
Each mahadasha is cut into nine , also called antardashas, in the same order, starting with the mahadasha’s own lord. Each bhukti is as long as its share of the 120 years: Rahu’s bhukti inside Budhan’s mahadasha lasts 17 times 18 divided by 120 years, about two and a half years. A third level, the , cuts each bhukti again and is used for timing within a year.
Reading "running Budhan"
When an astrologer says someone is "running Budhan", it means the Budhan mahadasha is on. "Budhan dasha, Rahu bhukti" narrows it to the sub-period. In the sample chart the Budhan mahadasha runs from April 2015 to April 2032. Inside it the Rahu bhukti runs from October 2024 to the end of April 2027, and for those years the sample is exactly that, "Budhan dasha, Rahu bhukti"; the Guru bhukti follows to August 2029 and the Sani bhukti closes the period in 2032. The dasha bar in the diagram draws the whole life with the period running on the day you read it outlined, and its bhuktis opened out underneath.
A period is not good or bad by itself. A Budhan period brings Budhan’s matters, learning, trade, writing and dealings with people, to the front, and how they go depends on Budhan in that chart: its sign, its house, the houses it rules and who aspects it. Sani’s long period is feared by habit, yet for a chart where Sani is the it is often the best stretch of the life.
The join between two mahadashas, the , is read as a time of change. When both partners in a proposed match are near such a join together, the porutham page flags it.