Simha lagna · vimshottari
The Rahu Mahadasha for Leo 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 Leo ascendant Rahu holds none: the nodes rule no sign in whole-sign lordship, so the 18-year Rahu mahadasha for Leo is read through the lord of the sign Rahu occupies at birth, and through that sign’s house from Leo, which no table can supply without the chart.
Rahu is exalted on the commoner reckoning in Taurus, the 10th from Leo, and debilitated by the same reckoning in Scorpio, the 4th; planets.js records other signs as well. Rahu counts the Sun, Leo’s lagna lord, an enemy; the Sun’s own row names no node, so the reverse has no entry. Rahu’s own nakshatras fall in Ardra (the 11th), Swati (the 3rd) and Shatabhisha (the 7th) for Leo ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Rahu mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Leo
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Leo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rahu–Rahu | 2 years 8 months 12 days | no house |
| 2 | Rahu–Jupiter | 2 years 4 months 24 days | the 5th and the 8th |
| 3 | Rahu–Saturn | 2 years 10 months 6 days | the 6th and the 7th |
| 4 | Rahu–Mercury | 2 years 6 months 18 days | the 2nd and the 11th |
| 5 | Rahu–Ketu | 1 year 18 days | no house |
| 6 | Rahu–Venus | 3 years | the 3rd and the 10th |
| 7 | Rahu–Sun | 10 months 24 days | the 1st |
| 8 | Rahu–Moon | 1 year 6 months | the 12th |
| 9 | Rahu–Mars | 1 year 18 days | the 4th and the 9th |
For Leo ascendant, three of the Rahu mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Rahu–Jupiter, Rahu–Saturn and Rahu–Moon, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Rahu–Jupiter and Rahu–Mars. The sub-period of the Sun, Leo’s lagna lord, is Rahu–Sun, the seventh of nine, 10 months 24 days long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Leo take 6 years 9 months (38%) of the Rahu mahadasha’s 18 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 3 years 5 months 12 days (19%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Rahu 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 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 Leo or any other ascendant, the Rahu mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Rahu mahadasha table; the Leo chart house by house on the Leo ascendant page. How the Rahu mahadasha is read in general is in our Rahu mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.