Tula lagna · vimshottari
The Rahu Mahadasha for Libra 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 Libra ascendant Rahu holds none: the nodes rule no sign in whole-sign lordship, so the 18-year Rahu mahadasha for Libra is read through the lord of the sign Rahu occupies at birth, and through that sign’s house from Libra, which no table can supply without the chart.
Rahu is exalted on the commoner reckoning in Taurus, the 8th from Libra, and debilitated by the same reckoning in Scorpio, the 2nd; planets.js records other signs as well. Rahu counts Venus, Libra’s lagna lord, a friend; Venus’s own row names no node, so the reverse has no entry. Rahu’s own nakshatras fall in Ardra (the 9th), Swati (the 1st) and Shatabhisha (the 5th) for Libra ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Rahu mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Libra
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Libra |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rahu–Rahu | 2 years 8 months 12 days | no house |
| 2 | Rahu–Jupiter | 2 years 4 months 24 days | the 3rd and the 6th |
| 3 | Rahu–Saturn | 2 years 10 months 6 days | the 4th and the 5th |
| 4 | Rahu–Mercury | 2 years 6 months 18 days | the 9th and the 12th |
| 5 | Rahu–Ketu | 1 year 18 days | no house |
| 6 | Rahu–Venus | 3 years | the 1st and the 8th |
| 7 | Rahu–Sun | 10 months 24 days | the 11th |
| 8 | Rahu–Moon | 1 year 6 months | the 10th |
| 9 | Rahu–Mars | 1 year 18 days | the 2nd and the 7th |
For Libra 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–Venus, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Rahu–Saturn and Rahu–Mercury. The sub-period of Venus, Libra’s lagna lord, is Rahu–Venus, the sixth of nine, 3 years long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Libra take 7 years 11 months 12 days (44%) of the Rahu mahadasha’s 18 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 5 years 4 months 24 days (30%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Rahu mahadasha for Libra, the Rahu and Ketu sub-periods are read through their dispositors in the chart, since neither node rules a house.
For a Libra-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 Libra or any other ascendant, the Rahu mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Rahu mahadasha table; the Libra chart house by house on the Libra ascendant page. How the Rahu mahadasha is read in general is in our Rahu mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.