Kumbha lagna · vimshottari
The Rahu Mahadasha for Aquarius Ascendant
18 years · Rahu rules no house
The Parashari way to read a mahadasha for a given ascendant starts with the houses its lord holds. For Aquarius ascendant Rahu holds none: the nodes rule no sign in whole-sign lordship, so the 18-year Rahu mahadasha for Aquarius is read through the lord of the sign Rahu occupies at birth, and through that sign’s house from Aquarius, which no table can supply without the chart.
Rahu is exalted on the commoner reckoning in Taurus, the 4th from Aquarius, and debilitated by the same reckoning in Scorpio, the 10th; planets.js records other signs as well. Rahu counts Saturn, Aquarius’s lagna lord, a friend; Saturn’s own row names no node, so the reverse has no entry. Rahu’s own nakshatras fall in Ardra (the 5th), Swati (the 9th) and Shatabhisha (the 1st) for Aquarius ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Rahu mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Aquarius
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Aquarius |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rahu–Rahu | 2 years 8 months 12 days | no house |
| 2 | Rahu–Jupiter | 2 years 4 months 24 days | the 2nd and the 11th |
| 3 | Rahu–Saturn | 2 years 10 months 6 days | the 1st and the 12th |
| 4 | Rahu–Mercury | 2 years 6 months 18 days | the 5th and the 8th |
| 5 | Rahu–Ketu | 1 year 18 days | no house |
| 6 | Rahu–Venus | 3 years | the 4th and the 9th |
| 7 | Rahu–Sun | 10 months 24 days | the 7th |
| 8 | Rahu–Moon | 1 year 6 months | the 6th |
| 9 | Rahu–Mars | 1 year 18 days | the 3rd and the 10th |
For Aquarius ascendant, three of the Rahu mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Rahu–Saturn, Rahu–Mercury and Rahu–Moon, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Rahu–Mercury and Rahu–Venus. The sub-period of Saturn, Aquarius’s lagna lord, is Rahu–Saturn, the third of nine, 2 years 10 months 6 days long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Aquarius take 6 years 10 months 24 days (38%) of the Rahu mahadasha’s 18 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 5 years 6 months 18 days (31%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Rahu mahadasha for Aquarius, the Rahu and Ketu sub-periods are read through their dispositors in the chart, since neither node rules a house.
For an Aquarius-rising chart this is the frame of the Rahu mahadasha, not a forecast: where Rahu and each sub-period lord actually sit, and their dignity there, decide what it comes to, and this page cannot know either.
Related
For Aquarius or any other ascendant, the Rahu mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Rahu mahadasha table; the Aquarius chart house by house on the Aquarius ascendant page. How the Rahu mahadasha is read in general is in our Rahu mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.