Kanya lagna · vimshottari
The Saturn Mahadasha for Virgo Ascendant
19 years · Saturn rules the 5th and 6th
The Parashari way to read a mahadasha for a given ascendant starts with the houses its lord holds. For Virgo ascendant Saturn rules the 5th (Capricorn) and the 6th (Aquarius), so for Virgo the 19-year Saturn mahadasha carries both a trikona house and a dusthana and an upachaya house.
Counted from Virgo, Saturn is exalted in the 2nd (Libra) and debilitated in the 8th (Aries). Mercury, Virgo’s lagna lord, counts Saturn neutral; Saturn counts Mercury a friend. Saturn’s own nakshatras fall in Pushya (the 11th), Anuradha (the 3rd) and Uttara Bhadrapada (the 7th) for Virgo ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Saturn mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Virgo
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Virgo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saturn–Saturn | 3 years 3 days | the 5th and the 6th |
| 2 | Saturn–Mercury | 2 years 8 months 9 days | the 1st and the 10th |
| 3 | Saturn–Ketu | 1 year 1 month 9 days | no house |
| 4 | Saturn–Venus | 3 years 2 months | the 2nd and the 9th |
| 5 | Saturn–Sun | 11 months 12 days | the 12th |
| 6 | Saturn–Moon | 1 year 7 months | the 11th |
| 7 | Saturn–Mars | 1 year 1 month 9 days | the 3rd and the 8th |
| 8 | Saturn–Rahu | 2 years 10 months 6 days | no house |
| 9 | Saturn–Jupiter | 2 years 6 months 12 days | the 4th and the 7th |
For Virgo ascendant, three of the Saturn mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Saturn–Saturn, Saturn–Sun and Saturn–Mars, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Saturn–Saturn and Saturn–Venus. The sub-period of Mercury, Virgo’s lagna lord, is Saturn–Mercury, the second of nine, 2 years 8 months 9 days long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Virgo take 5 years 24 days (27%) of the Saturn mahadasha’s 19 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 6 years 2 months 3 days (33%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Saturn mahadasha for Virgo, the Rahu and Ketu sub-periods are read through their dispositors in the chart, since neither node rules a house.
For a Virgo-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 Virgo or any other ascendant, the Saturn mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Saturn mahadasha table; the Virgo chart house by house on the Virgo ascendant page. How the Saturn mahadasha is read in general is in our Saturn mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.