Makara lagna · vimshottari
The Rahu Mahadasha for Capricorn 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 Capricorn ascendant Rahu holds none: the nodes rule no sign in whole-sign lordship, so the 18-year Rahu mahadasha for Capricorn is read through the lord of the sign Rahu occupies at birth, and through that sign’s house from Capricorn, which no table can supply without the chart.
Rahu is exalted on the commoner reckoning in Taurus, the 5th from Capricorn, and debilitated by the same reckoning in Scorpio, the 11th; planets.js records other signs as well. Rahu counts Saturn, Capricorn’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 6th), Swati (the 10th) and Shatabhisha (the 2nd) for Capricorn ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Rahu mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Capricorn
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Capricorn |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rahu–Rahu | 2 years 8 months 12 days | no house |
| 2 | Rahu–Jupiter | 2 years 4 months 24 days | the 3rd and the 12th |
| 3 | Rahu–Saturn | 2 years 10 months 6 days | the 1st and the 2nd |
| 4 | Rahu–Mercury | 2 years 6 months 18 days | the 6th and the 9th |
| 5 | Rahu–Ketu | 1 year 18 days | no house |
| 6 | Rahu–Venus | 3 years | the 5th and the 10th |
| 7 | Rahu–Sun | 10 months 24 days | the 8th |
| 8 | Rahu–Moon | 1 year 6 months | the 7th |
| 9 | Rahu–Mars | 1 year 18 days | the 4th and the 11th |
For Capricorn ascendant, three of the Rahu mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Rahu–Jupiter, Rahu–Mercury and Rahu–Sun, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Rahu–Mercury and Rahu–Venus. The sub-period of Saturn, Capricorn’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 Capricorn take 5 years 10 months 6 days (32%) 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 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 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 Capricorn or any other ascendant, the Rahu mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Rahu mahadasha table; the Capricorn chart house by house on the Capricorn ascendant page. How the Rahu mahadasha is read in general is in our Rahu mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.