Vrishchika lagna · vimshottari
The Saturn Mahadasha for Scorpio Ascendant
19 years · Saturn rules the 3rd and 4th
The Parashari way to read a mahadasha for a given ascendant starts with the houses its lord holds. For Scorpio ascendant Saturn rules the 3rd (Capricorn) and the 4th (Aquarius), so for Scorpio the 19-year Saturn mahadasha carries both an upachaya house and a kendra house.
Counted from Scorpio, Saturn is exalted in the 12th (Libra) and debilitated in the 6th (Aries). Mars, Scorpio’s lagna lord, counts Saturn neutral; Saturn counts Mars an enemy. Saturn’s own nakshatras fall in Pushya (the 9th), Anuradha (the 1st) and Uttara Bhadrapada (the 5th) for Scorpio ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Saturn mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Scorpio
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Scorpio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saturn–Saturn | 3 years 3 days | the 3rd and the 4th |
| 2 | Saturn–Mercury | 2 years 8 months 9 days | the 8th and the 11th |
| 3 | Saturn–Ketu | 1 year 1 month 9 days | no house |
| 4 | Saturn–Venus | 3 years 2 months | the 7th and the 12th |
| 5 | Saturn–Sun | 11 months 12 days | the 10th |
| 6 | Saturn–Moon | 1 year 7 months | the 9th |
| 7 | Saturn–Mars | 1 year 1 month 9 days | the 1st and the 6th |
| 8 | Saturn–Rahu | 2 years 10 months 6 days | no house |
| 9 | Saturn–Jupiter | 2 years 6 months 12 days | the 2nd and the 5th |
For Scorpio 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–Mars, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Saturn–Moon and Saturn–Jupiter. The sub-period of Mars, Scorpio’s lagna lord, is Saturn–Mars, the seventh of nine, 1 year 1 month 9 days long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Scorpio take 6 years 11 months 18 days (37%) of the Saturn mahadasha’s 19 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 4 years 1 month 12 days (22%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Saturn 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 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 Scorpio or any other ascendant, the Saturn mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Saturn mahadasha table; the Scorpio chart house by house on the Scorpio ascendant page. How the Saturn mahadasha is read in general is in our Saturn mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.