Saturn Mahadasha, Mercury Antardasha (Shani–Budh)

The Mercury antardasha is the second of the nine sub-periods inside the Saturn mahadasha. 19 × 17 ÷ 120 makes the Saturn–Mercury 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.

Mercury’s turn in the Saturn mahadasha comes only after Saturn has run, which takes 3 years 3 days. When the Saturn–Mercury sub-period gives way to Saturn–Ketu, 13 years 3 months 18 days of the Saturn mahadasha remains.

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

The Nine Pratyantardashas of Saturn–Mercury

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

How Saturn and Mercury Stand to Each Other

On the natural friendship table, Saturn counts Mercury a friend while Mercury counts Saturn neutral. The table is not symmetric, so the Saturn–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 6th from Saturn’s Capricorn, Virgo is the 9th from Saturn’s Capricorn, Gemini is the 5th from Saturn’s Aquarius and Virgo is the 8th from Saturn’s Aquarius. Whatever the ascendant, the houses Saturn rules and the houses Mercury rules sit at those same distances from each other in the chart, so the Saturn–Mercury sub-period always joins lordships that far apart.

The Same Pair the Other Way Round: Mercury–Saturn

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

What the Texts Assign to Saturn and Mercury

The karaka list the tables give Saturn, the mahadasha lord, is karma, labour, servants, iron, coal and delay itself; for Mercury, the lord of the Saturn–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 Saturn there. None of that is a forecast, and this page makes none: without a chart, Saturn–Mercury 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 Pushya, Anuradha or Uttara Bhadrapada opens life inside the Saturn mahadasha itself, part-way through, and whether the Saturn–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 Saturn mahadasha is the ninth in that sequence.

The Other Sub-Periods of the Saturn Mahadasha

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