Mercury Mahadasha, Saturn Antardasha (Budh–Shani)

The Saturn antardasha is the ninth of the nine sub-periods inside the Mercury mahadasha, and the last of them — it closes the Mercury mahadasha, which gives way to the Ketu mahadasha. 17 × 19 ÷ 120 makes the Mercury–Saturn sub-period 2 years 8 months 9 days on the classical year of twelve thirty-day months, which is how the texts state it, or 983 days on the solar year of 365.2425 days that the dasha calculator uses.

Saturn’s turn in the Mercury mahadasha comes only after Mercury, Ketu, Venus, the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Rahu and Jupiter have run, which takes 14 years 3 months 21 days. Nothing of the Mercury mahadasha is left once the Mercury–Saturn sub-period ends.

Saturn’s 19 years make every Saturn antardasha 19/120 of the mahadasha containing it, so inside Mercury’s 17 years the Mercury–Saturn sub-period is the second-longest of the nine.

The Nine Pratyantardashas of Mercury–Saturn

A pratyantardasha of Mercury–Saturn is 17 × 19 × its own lord’s years ÷ 14,400, and the nine run in cycle order starting from Saturn. Venus’s is the longest inside Mercury–Saturn at 162 days and the Sun’s the shortest at 48 days, on the classical year and rounded to the day.

How Mercury and Saturn Stand to Each Other

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

Counted between the signs they own, Capricorn is the 8th from Mercury’s Gemini, Aquarius is the 9th from Mercury’s Gemini, Capricorn is the 5th from Mercury’s Virgo and Aquarius is the 6th from Mercury’s Virgo. Whatever the ascendant, the houses Mercury rules and the houses Saturn rules sit at those same distances from each other in the chart, so the Mercury–Saturn sub-period always joins lordships that far apart.

The Same Pair the Other Way Round: Saturn–Mercury

17 × 19 equals 19 × 17, so the Mercury antardasha of the Saturn mahadasha is exactly as long as Mercury–Saturn: 2 years 8 months 9 days. Nothing else about Saturn–Mercury matches. It is the second sub-period of Saturn’s 19 years rather than the ninth of Mercury’s 17; it opens after 3 years 3 days of the Saturn mahadasha, against 14 years 3 months 21 days here; and its pratyantars start from Mercury instead of Saturn.

What the Texts Assign to Mercury and Saturn

The karaka list the tables give Mercury, the mahadasha lord, is speech, writing, trade, accounts, mathematics, maternal uncles and students; for Saturn, the lord of the Mercury–Saturn sub-period, it is karma, labour, servants, iron, coal and delay itself. Parashari practice reads the sub-period through the houses each of the two owns and occupies in the birth chart, and through where Saturn stands counted from Mercury there. None of that is a forecast, and this page makes none: without a chart, Mercury–Saturn is a length and a position, and the 2 years 8 months 9 days above is the whole of what can be said about it in general.

A birth with the Moon in Ashlesha, Jyeshtha or Revati opens life inside the Mercury mahadasha itself, part-way through, and whether the Mercury–Saturn sub-period is still ahead depends on how far the Moon had gone into the nakshatra. For a birth in Pushya, Anuradha or Uttara Bhadrapada, the Saturn mahadasha comes first, and the Mercury mahadasha is the next one.

The Other Sub-Periods of the Mercury Mahadasha

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