Simha lagna · vimshottari
The Mercury Mahadasha for Leo Ascendant
17 years · Mercury rules the 2nd and 11th
The Parashari way to read a mahadasha for a given ascendant starts with the houses its lord holds. For Leo ascendant Mercury rules the 2nd (Virgo) and the 11th (Gemini), so for Leo the 17-year Mercury mahadasha carries both an unclassed house and an upachaya house.
Counted from Leo, Mercury is exalted in the 2nd (Virgo) and debilitated in the 8th (Pisces). The Sun, Leo’s lagna lord, counts Mercury neutral; Mercury counts the Sun a friend. Mercury’s own nakshatras fall in Ashlesha (the 12th), Jyeshtha (the 4th) and Revati (the 8th) for Leo ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Mercury mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Leo
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Leo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercury–Mercury | 2 years 4 months 27 days | the 2nd and the 11th |
| 2 | Mercury–Ketu | 11 months 27 days | no house |
| 3 | Mercury–Venus | 2 years 10 months | the 3rd and the 10th |
| 4 | Mercury–Sun | 10 months 6 days | the 1st |
| 5 | Mercury–Moon | 1 year 5 months | the 12th |
| 6 | Mercury–Mars | 11 months 27 days | the 4th and the 9th |
| 7 | Mercury–Rahu | 2 years 6 months 18 days | no house |
| 8 | Mercury–Jupiter | 2 years 3 months 6 days | the 5th and the 8th |
| 9 | Mercury–Saturn | 2 years 8 months 9 days | the 6th and the 7th |
For Leo ascendant, three of the Mercury mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Mercury–Moon, Mercury–Jupiter and Mercury–Saturn, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Mercury–Mars and Mercury–Jupiter. The sub-period of the Sun, Leo’s lagna lord, is Mercury–Sun, the fourth of nine, 10 months 6 days long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Leo take 6 years 4 months 15 days (38%) of the Mercury mahadasha’s 17 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 3 years 3 months 3 days (19%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Mercury mahadasha for Leo, the Rahu and Ketu sub-periods are read through their dispositors in the chart, since neither node rules a house.
For a Leo-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 Leo or any other ascendant, the Mercury mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Mercury mahadasha table; the Leo chart house by house on the Leo ascendant page. How the Mercury mahadasha is read in general is in our Mercury mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.