Vrishabha lagna · vimshottari
The Mercury Mahadasha for Taurus Ascendant
17 years · Mercury rules the 2nd and 5th
The Parashari way to read a mahadasha for a given ascendant starts with the houses its lord holds. For Taurus ascendant Mercury rules the 2nd (Gemini) and the 5th (Virgo), so for Taurus the 17-year Mercury mahadasha carries both an unclassed house and a trikona house.
Counted from Taurus, Mercury is exalted in the 5th (Virgo) and debilitated in the 11th (Pisces). Venus, Taurus’s lagna lord, and Mercury count each other a friend. Mercury’s own nakshatras fall in Ashlesha (the 3rd), Jyeshtha (the 7th) and Revati (the 11th) for Taurus ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Mercury mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Taurus
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Taurus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercury–Mercury | 2 years 4 months 27 days | the 2nd and the 5th |
| 2 | Mercury–Ketu | 11 months 27 days | no house |
| 3 | Mercury–Venus | 2 years 10 months | the 1st and the 6th |
| 4 | Mercury–Sun | 10 months 6 days | the 4th |
| 5 | Mercury–Moon | 1 year 5 months | the 3rd |
| 6 | Mercury–Mars | 11 months 27 days | the 7th and the 12th |
| 7 | Mercury–Rahu | 2 years 6 months 18 days | no house |
| 8 | Mercury–Jupiter | 2 years 3 months 6 days | the 8th and the 11th |
| 9 | Mercury–Saturn | 2 years 8 months 9 days | the 9th and the 10th |
For Taurus ascendant, three of the Mercury mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Mercury–Venus, Mercury–Mars and Mercury–Jupiter, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Mercury–Mercury and Mercury–Saturn. The sub-period of Venus, Taurus’s lagna lord, is Mercury–Venus, the third of nine, 2 years 10 months long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Taurus take 6 years 1 month 3 days (36%) of the Mercury mahadasha’s 17 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 5 years 1 month 6 days (30%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Mercury mahadasha for Taurus, the Rahu and Ketu sub-periods are read through their dispositors in the chart, since neither node rules a house.
For a Taurus-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 Taurus or any other ascendant, the Mercury mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Mercury mahadasha table; the Taurus chart house by house on the Taurus ascendant page. How the Mercury mahadasha is read in general is in our Mercury mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.