Saturn Mahadasha, Venus Antardasha (Shani–Shukra)

The Venus antardasha is the fourth of the nine sub-periods inside the Saturn mahadasha. 19 × 20 ÷ 120 makes the Saturn–Venus sub-period 3 years 2 months on the classical year of twelve thirty-day months, which is how the texts state it, or 1157 days on the solar year of 365.2425 days that the dasha calculator uses.

Venus’s turn in the Saturn mahadasha comes only after Saturn, Mercury and Ketu have run, which takes 6 years 9 months 21 days. When the Saturn–Venus sub-period gives way to Saturn–Sun, 9 years 9 days of the Saturn mahadasha remains.

Venus’s 20 years make every Venus antardasha 20/120 of the mahadasha containing it, so inside Saturn’s 19 years the Saturn–Venus sub-period is the longest of the nine.

The Nine Pratyantardashas of Saturn–Venus

A pratyantardasha of Saturn–Venus is 19 × 20 × its own lord’s years ÷ 14,400, and the nine run in cycle order starting from Venus. Venus’s is the longest inside Saturn–Venus at 190 days and the Sun’s the shortest at 57 days, on the classical year and rounded to the day.

How Saturn and Venus Stand to Each Other

On the natural friendship table, Saturn and Venus each count the other a friend. The Saturn–Venusrelationship is mutual, so it reads the same from either lord.

Counted between the signs they own, Taurus is the 5th from Saturn’s Capricorn, Libra is the 10th from Saturn’s Capricorn, Taurus is the 4th from Saturn’s Aquarius and Libra is the 9th from Saturn’s Aquarius. Whatever the ascendant, the houses Saturn rules and the houses Venus rules sit at those same distances from each other in the chart, so the Saturn–Venus sub-period always joins lordships that far apart.

Saturn is exalted in Libra, a sign Venus owns. In the Saturn–Venus sub-period, then, one lord's dignity is placed on the other’s ground.

The Same Pair the Other Way Round: Venus–Saturn

19 × 20 equals 20 × 19, so the Saturn antardasha of the Venus mahadasha is exactly as long as Saturn–Venus: 3 years 2 months. Nothing else about Venus–Saturn matches. It is the seventh sub-period of Venus’s 20 years rather than the fourth of Saturn’s 19; it opens after 12 years 10 months of the Venus mahadasha, against 6 years 9 months 21 days here; and its pratyantars start from Saturn instead of Venus.

What the Texts Assign to Saturn and Venus

The karaka list the tables give Saturn, the mahadasha lord, is karma, labour, servants, iron, coal and delay itself; for Venus, the lord of the Saturn–Venus sub-period, it is marriage, vehicles, art, music, luxury, hotels and cosmetics. Parashari practice reads the sub-period through the houses each of the two owns and occupies in the birth chart, and through where Venus stands counted from Saturn there. None of that is a forecast, and this page makes none: without a chart, Saturn–Venus is a length and a position, and the 3 years 2 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–Venus sub-period is still ahead depends on how far the Moon had gone into the nakshatra. For a birth in Bharani, Purva Phalguni or Purva Ashadha, the Venus mahadasha comes first, and the Saturn mahadasha is the seventh 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 शुक्र अंतर्दशा.