Saturn Mahadasha, Moon Antardasha (Shani–Chandra)

The Moon antardasha is the sixth of the nine sub-periods inside the Saturn mahadasha. 19 × 10 ÷ 120 makes the Saturn–Moon sub-period 1 year 7 months on the classical year of twelve thirty-day months, which is how the texts state it, or 578 days on the solar year of 365.2425 days that the dasha calculator uses.

The Moon’s turn in the Saturn mahadasha comes only after Saturn, Mercury, Ketu, Venus and the Sun have run, which takes 10 years 11 months 3 days. When the Saturn–Moon sub-period gives way to Saturn–Mars, 6 years 5 months 27 days of the Saturn mahadasha remains.

The Moon’s 10 years make every Moon antardasha 10/120 of the mahadasha containing it, so inside Saturn’s 19 years the Saturn–Moon sub-period is the sixth-longest of the nine.

The Nine Pratyantardashas of Saturn–Moon

A pratyantardasha of Saturn–Moon is 19 × 10 × its own lord’s years ÷ 14,400, and the nine run in cycle order starting from the Moon. Venus’s is the longest inside Saturn–Moon at 95 days and the Sun’s the shortest at 29 days, on the classical year and rounded to the day.

How Saturn and the Moon Stand to Each Other

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

Counted between the signs they own, Cancer is the 7th from Saturn’s Capricorn and Cancer is the 6th from Saturn’s Aquarius. Whatever the ascendant, the houses Saturn rules and the houses the Moon rules sit at those same distances from each other in the chart, so the Saturn–Moon sub-period always joins lordships that far apart.

The Same Pair the Other Way Round: Moon–Saturn

19 × 10 equals 10 × 19, so the Saturn antardasha of the Moon mahadasha is exactly as long as Saturn–Moon: 1 year 7 months. Nothing else about Moon–Saturn matches. It is the fifth sub-period of the Moon’s 10 years rather than the sixth of Saturn’s 19; it opens after 4 years 3 months of the Moon mahadasha, against 10 years 11 months 3 days here; and its pratyantars start from Saturn instead of the Moon.

What the Texts Assign to Saturn and the Moon

The karaka list the tables give Saturn, the mahadasha lord, is karma, labour, servants, iron, coal and delay itself; for the Moon, the lord of the Saturn–Moon sub-period, it is mother, the mind (manas), water, milk, the public, comfort and the home. Parashari practice reads the sub-period through the houses each of the two owns and occupies in the birth chart, and through where the Moon stands counted from Saturn there. None of that is a forecast, and this page makes none: without a chart, Saturn–Moon is a length and a position, and the 1 year 7 months 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–Moon sub-period is still ahead depends on how far the Moon had gone into the nakshatra. For a birth in Rohini, Hasta or Shravana, the Moon mahadasha comes first, and the Saturn mahadasha is the fifth 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 चन्द्र अंतर्दशा.