विंशोत्तरी दशा: आपकी कुंडली के भीतर की घड़ी

A birth chart is a still photograph. Dashas add the clock. The Vimshottari system, by far the most used, divides a 120-year span among the nine grahas in a fixed order: Ketu 7, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17 years.

Where the clock starts

The starting graha is the lord of the Moon's nakshatra at birth. The fraction of that nakshatra the Moon had already covered tells how much of the first period had already elapsed. That is why almost nobody begins life at the start of a dasha — a Moon two-thirds of the way through Rohini gives a Moon dasha with about three and a third years remaining.

Periods within periods

Each mahadasha is divided among the nine grahas in the same order and proportion, giving antardashas; those divide again into pratyantardashas. Most practical timing works at the mahadasha–antardasha level. Jyotish Drishti lists both and marks the one running today.

What to look at first

• Which houses the dasha lord rules from your Lagna — those areas of life are 'switched on'.
• Where the dasha lord sits and its dignity — strong lords deliver their houses more cleanly.
• The relationship between mahadasha and antardasha lords — friends cooperate, enemies pull in two directions.