Mars Mahadasha, Mercury Antardasha (Mangal–Budh)

The Mercury antardasha is the fifth of the nine sub-periods inside the Mars mahadasha. 7 × 17 ÷ 120 makes the Mars–Mercury sub-period 11 months 27 days on the classical year of twelve thirty-day months, which is how the texts state it, or 362 days on the solar year of 365.2425 days that the dasha calculator uses.

Mercury’s turn in the Mars mahadasha comes only after Mars, Rahu, Jupiter and Saturn have run, which takes 3 years 6 months. When the Mars–Mercury sub-period gives way to Mars–Ketu, 2 years 6 months 3 days of the Mars mahadasha remains.

Mercury’s 17 years make every Mercury antardasha 17/120 of the mahadasha containing it, so inside Mars’s 7 years the Mars–Mercury sub-period is the fourth-longest of the nine.

The Nine Pratyantardashas of Mars–Mercury

A pratyantardasha of Mars–Mercury is 7 × 17 × its own lord’s years ÷ 14,400, and the nine run in cycle order starting from Mercury. Venus’s is the longest inside Mars–Mercury at 60 days and the Sun’s the shortest at 18 days, on the classical year and rounded to the day.

How Mars and Mercury Stand to Each Other

On the natural friendship table, Mars counts Mercury an enemy while Mercury counts Mars neutral. The table is not symmetric, so the Mars–Mercury relationship has to be quoted in both directions, as it is here, rather than as one word.

Counted between the signs they own, Gemini is the 3rd from Mars’s Aries, Virgo is the 6th from Mars’s Aries, Gemini is the 8th from Mars’s Scorpio and Virgo is the 11th from Mars’s Scorpio. Whatever the ascendant, the houses Mars rules and the houses Mercury rules sit at those same distances from each other in the chart, so the Mars–Mercury sub-period always joins lordships that far apart.

The Same Pair the Other Way Round: Mercury–Mars

7 × 17 equals 17 × 7, so the Mars antardasha of the Mercury mahadasha is exactly as long as Mars–Mercury: 11 months 27 days. Nothing else about Mercury–Mars matches. It is the sixth sub-period of Mercury’s 17 years rather than the fifth of Mars’s 7; it opens after 8 years 6 months of the Mercury mahadasha, against 3 years 6 months here; and its pratyantars start from Mars instead of Mercury.

What the Texts Assign to Mars and Mercury

The karaka list the tables give Mars, the mahadasha lord, is younger siblings, land and property, weapons, engineering and the armed forces; for Mercury, the lord of the Mars–Mercury sub-period, it is speech, writing, trade, accounts, mathematics, maternal uncles and students. Parashari practice reads the sub-period through the houses each of the two owns and occupies in the birth chart, and through where Mercury stands counted from Mars there. None of that is a forecast, and this page makes none: without a chart, Mars–Mercury is a length and a position, and the 11 months 27 days above is the whole of what can be said about it in general.

A birth with the Moon in Mrigashira, Chitra or Dhanishta opens life inside the Mars mahadasha itself, part-way through, and whether the Mars–Mercury sub-period is still ahead depends on how far the Moon had gone into the nakshatra. For a birth in Ashlesha, Jyeshtha or Revati, the Mercury mahadasha comes first, and the Mars mahadasha is the sixth in that sequence.

The Other Sub-Periods of the Mars Mahadasha

The full table for the Mars mahadasha, with where each sub-period opens and closes, is on the Mars mahadasha page. How the Mars mahadasha is read as a whole is in our Mars mahadasha article, and the system itself in Vimshottari dasha explained. This page in Hindi: मंगल महादशा में बुध अंतर्दशा.