Tula lagna · vimshottari
The Saturn Mahadasha for Libra Ascendant
19 years · Saturn rules the 4th and 5th
The Parashari way to read a mahadasha for a given ascendant starts with the houses its lord holds. For Libra ascendant Saturn rules the 4th (Capricorn) and the 5th (Aquarius), so for Libra the 19-year Saturn mahadasha carries both a kendra house and a trikona house. For Libra, then, Saturn holds a kendra and a trikona other than the 1st together.
Counted from Libra, Saturn is exalted in the 1st (Libra) and debilitated in the 7th (Aries). Venus, Libra’s lagna lord, and Saturn count each other a friend. Saturn’s own nakshatras fall in Pushya (the 10th), Anuradha (the 2nd) and Uttara Bhadrapada (the 6th) for Libra ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Saturn mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Libra
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Libra |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saturn–Saturn | 3 years 3 days | the 4th and the 5th |
| 2 | Saturn–Mercury | 2 years 8 months 9 days | the 9th and the 12th |
| 3 | Saturn–Ketu | 1 year 1 month 9 days | no house |
| 4 | Saturn–Venus | 3 years 2 months | the 1st and the 8th |
| 5 | Saturn–Sun | 11 months 12 days | the 11th |
| 6 | Saturn–Moon | 1 year 7 months | the 10th |
| 7 | Saturn–Mars | 1 year 1 month 9 days | the 2nd and the 7th |
| 8 | Saturn–Rahu | 2 years 10 months 6 days | no house |
| 9 | Saturn–Jupiter | 2 years 6 months 12 days | the 3rd and the 6th |
For Libra ascendant, three of the Saturn mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Saturn–Mercury, Saturn–Venus and Saturn–Jupiter, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Saturn–Saturn and Saturn–Mercury. The sub-period of Venus, Libra’s lagna lord, is Saturn–Venus, the fourth of nine, 3 years 2 months long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Libra take 8 years 4 months 21 days (44%) of the Saturn mahadasha’s 19 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 5 years 8 months 12 days (30%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Saturn 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 Saturn mahadasha, not a forecast: where Saturn 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 Saturn mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Saturn mahadasha table; the Libra chart house by house on the Libra ascendant page. How the Saturn mahadasha is read in general is in our Saturn mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.