Makara lagna · vimshottari
The Mercury Mahadasha for Capricorn Ascendant
17 years · Mercury rules the 6th and 9th
The Parashari way to read a mahadasha for a given ascendant starts with the houses its lord holds. For Capricorn ascendant Mercury rules the 6th (Gemini) and the 9th (Virgo), so for Capricorn the 17-year Mercury mahadasha carries both a dusthana and an upachaya house and a trikona house.
Counted from Capricorn, Mercury is exalted in the 9th (Virgo) and debilitated in the 3rd (Pisces). Saturn, Capricorn’s lagna lord, counts Mercury a friend; Mercury counts Saturn neutral. Mercury’s own nakshatras fall in Ashlesha (the 7th), Jyeshtha (the 11th) and Revati (the 3rd) for Capricorn ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Mercury mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Capricorn
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Capricorn |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercury–Mercury | 2 years 4 months 27 days | the 6th and the 9th |
| 2 | Mercury–Ketu | 11 months 27 days | no house |
| 3 | Mercury–Venus | 2 years 10 months | the 5th and the 10th |
| 4 | Mercury–Sun | 10 months 6 days | the 8th |
| 5 | Mercury–Moon | 1 year 5 months | the 7th |
| 6 | Mercury–Mars | 11 months 27 days | the 4th and the 11th |
| 7 | Mercury–Rahu | 2 years 6 months 18 days | no house |
| 8 | Mercury–Jupiter | 2 years 3 months 6 days | the 3rd and the 12th |
| 9 | Mercury–Saturn | 2 years 8 months 9 days | the 1st and the 2nd |
For Capricorn ascendant, three of the Mercury mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Mercury–Mercury, Mercury–Sun and Mercury–Jupiter, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Mercury–Mercury and Mercury–Venus. The sub-period of Saturn, Capricorn’s lagna lord, is Mercury–Saturn, the ninth of nine, 2 years 8 months 9 days long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Capricorn take 5 years 6 months 9 days (33%) of the Mercury mahadasha’s 17 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 5 years 2 months 27 days (31%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Mercury mahadasha for Capricorn, the Rahu and Ketu sub-periods are read through their dispositors in the chart, since neither node rules a house.
For a Capricorn-rising chart this is the frame of the Mercury mahadasha, not a forecast: where Mercury and each sub-period lord actually sit, and their dignity there, decide what it comes to, and this page cannot know either.
Related
For Capricorn or any other ascendant, the Mercury mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Mercury mahadasha table; the Capricorn chart house by house on the Capricorn ascendant page. How the Mercury mahadasha is read in general is in our Mercury mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.