Vrishchika lagna · vimshottari
The Mercury Mahadasha for Scorpio Ascendant
17 years · Mercury rules the 8th and 11th
The Parashari way to read a mahadasha for a given ascendant starts with the houses its lord holds. For Scorpio ascendant Mercury rules the 8th (Gemini) and the 11th (Virgo), so for Scorpio the 17-year Mercury mahadasha carries both a dusthana house and an upachaya house.
Counted from Scorpio, Mercury is exalted in the 11th (Virgo) and debilitated in the 5th (Pisces). Mars, Scorpio’s lagna lord, counts Mercury an enemy; Mercury counts Mars neutral. Mercury’s own nakshatras fall in Ashlesha (the 9th), Jyeshtha (the 1st) and Revati (the 5th) for Scorpio ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Mercury mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Scorpio
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Scorpio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercury–Mercury | 2 years 4 months 27 days | the 8th and the 11th |
| 2 | Mercury–Ketu | 11 months 27 days | no house |
| 3 | Mercury–Venus | 2 years 10 months | the 7th and the 12th |
| 4 | Mercury–Sun | 10 months 6 days | the 10th |
| 5 | Mercury–Moon | 1 year 5 months | the 9th |
| 6 | Mercury–Mars | 11 months 27 days | the 1st and the 6th |
| 7 | Mercury–Rahu | 2 years 6 months 18 days | no house |
| 8 | Mercury–Jupiter | 2 years 3 months 6 days | the 2nd and the 5th |
| 9 | Mercury–Saturn | 2 years 8 months 9 days | the 3rd and the 4th |
For Scorpio ascendant, three of the Mercury mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Mercury–Mercury, Mercury–Venus and Mercury–Mars, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Mercury–Moon and Mercury–Jupiter. The sub-period of Mars, Scorpio’s lagna lord, is Mercury–Mars, the sixth of nine, 11 months 27 days long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Scorpio take 6 years 2 months 24 days (37%) of the Mercury mahadasha’s 17 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 3 years 8 months 6 days (22%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Mercury mahadasha for Scorpio, the Rahu and Ketu sub-periods are read through their dispositors in the chart, since neither node rules a house.
For a Scorpio-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 Scorpio or any other ascendant, the Mercury mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Mercury mahadasha table; the Scorpio chart house by house on the Scorpio ascendant page. How the Mercury mahadasha is read in general is in our Mercury mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.