vimshottari mahadasha
Sun Mahadasha (Surya): The Nine Antardashas
6 years · follows Venus · precedes Moon
The Sun mahadasha runs 6 years in the 120-year Vimshottari cycle. It comes after the Venus mahadasha and gives way to the Moon mahadasha. A birth with the Moon in Krittika, Uttara Phalguni or Uttara Ashadha begins life inside it, part-way through, because those are the three nakshatras the Sun rules.
Its nine antardashas start with the Sun’s own and follow the cycle from there, so the last of them is Venus’s. Inside these 6 years the Venus sub-period is the longest, at 1 year, and the Sun sub-period the shortest, at 3 months 18 days.
| # | Antardasha | Classical | Solar days | Opens after | Closes at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun–Sun | 3m 18d | 110 | — | 3m 18d |
| 2 | Sun–Moon | 6m | 183 | 3m 18d | 9m 18d |
| 3 | Sun–Mars | 4m 6d | 128 | 9m 18d | 1y 1m 24d |
| 4 | Sun–Rahu | 10m 24d | 329 | 1y 1m 24d | 2y 18d |
| 5 | Sun–Jupiter | 9m 18d | 292 | 2y 18d | 2y 10m 6d |
| 6 | Sun–Saturn | 11m 12d | 347 | 2y 10m 6d | 3y 9m 18d |
| 7 | Sun–Mercury | 10m 6d | 310 | 3y 9m 18d | 4y 7m 24d |
| 8 | Sun–Ketu | 4m 6d | 128 | 4y 7m 24d | 5y |
| 9 | Sun–Venus | 1y | 365 | 5y | 6y |
The “opens after” and “closes at” columns are measured from the start of a full Sun mahadasha on the classical year. A Sun mahadasha that was already running at birth is entered part-way, so for that birth the early rows may be in the past; the dasha calculator places the rows on the calendar from the Moon’s longitude.
Reading the Sun Mahadasha
This page is arithmetic. For how the Sun mahadasha is interpreted, see our Sun mahadasha article; for the Sun’s dignities, friendships and remedies, the Sun (Surya) page; and for the system as a whole, Vimshottari dasha explained. This page in Hindi: सूर्य महादशा.
The Sun Mahadasha by Ascendant
Which houses the Sun and each of its sub-period lords rule depends on the ascendant. The Sun mahadasha read through each lagna’s lordships: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.