The Study of Jyotisha · Chapter 23 of 54 · Part Five · Timing

#Other dasha systems

Vimshottari (Chapter 22) is the system most Jyotishis use, but it is far from the only one. The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra describes dozens in its chapter 46, and Varahamihira used a different system altogether. This chapter surveys the main ones, works some of them for the example chart, and draws an important lesson from the comparison.

#Varahamihira's dasha

Varahamihira's period system is built on his method of calculating the span of life (Brihat Jataka VII). Each planet, and the ascendant, contributes a number of years, depending on its position. These same numbers become the lengths of the periods (Brihat Jataka VIII.2). This course does not teach the life-span calculation (Chapter 46 explains why), but the structure of the periods is worth knowing, because it shows a completely different way of thinking.

The order (Brihat Jataka VIII.1–2):

1. Find which is strongest: the ascendant, the Sun or the Moon. Its period comes first.
2. Then come the periods of the planets in the kendras from it, then those in the panapharas (2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th), then those in the apoklimas (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th).
3. Within each group, the strongest planet comes first.

So the order of periods depends on the chart, not on a fixed cycle.

The sub-periods (Brihat Jataka VIII.3–4) are also chart-based. In a planet's period, the sub-periods belong to the planet itself, and to the planets placed in the same sign as it, in the 5th and 9th from it, in the 7th from it, and in the 4th and 8th from it. Their lengths are in proportion to fixed fractions: the lord of the period itself 1, a planet with it ½, a planet in the 5th or 9th ⅓, a planet in the 7th ⅐, a planet in the 4th or 8th ¼. Aiyar works an example: with the lord, a planet with it, a planet in the 5th or 9th and a planet in the 4th or 8th, the proportions 1 : ½ : ⅓ : ¼ become 12 : 6 : 4 : 3, and the period is divided into 25 parts accordingly (note to VIII.4). The idea is that the planets closely linked to the period's lord share in its time.

#The natural periods

Varahamihira also records natural periods (naisargika dasha), the same for everyone, describing the ages of life (Brihat Jataka VIII.9):

These are attractive as a picture of a life: the Moon of infancy (nourishment), Mars of the toddler (energy), Mercury of childhood (learning), Venus of youth (love), Jupiter of maturity (wisdom and family), the Sun of authority, and Saturn of old age. Varahamihira says that when a planet's ordinary period and its natural period coincide, the time is prosperous (VIII.9).

#Parashara's conditional systems

The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra gives several nakshatra-based systems that work like Vimshottari — a fixed cycle of planets, starting from the Moon's nakshatra, with a balance at birth — but with different lords, lengths and totals. Each is meant to be used only when a condition in the chart is met (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 46.17–43):

#Ashtottari

The best known of these. It has eight lords (no Ketu) with these years (46.17–22):

It uses 28 nakshatras (including Abhijit, Chapter 4), counted from Ardra, in groups of four for the malefics and three for the benefics. It was widely used in parts of North and East India.

#Yogini

Yogini dasha has eight periods, each named after a yogini (a goddess) and associated with a planet, lasting from 1 to 8 years, for a cycle of 36 years (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 46.195–199):

To find the first: add 3 to the number of the Moon's nakshatra (Ashvini = 1) and divide by 8; the remainder gives the yogini (1 = Mangala, ... 0 = Sankata). The balance is worked out as in Vimshottari. Because the cycle is short, a long life passes through it three times.

#The example chart

The Moon is in Rohini, the 4th nakshatra. 4 + 3 = 7, so the first yogini is the 7th, Siddha (Venus). Then Sankata (Rahu) from December 1992, and so on. The engine gives Siddha again from December 2021 to December 2028.

#When do the conditions apply?

Check the example chart against Parashara's conditions:

• Ashtottari: Rahu in Capricorn is the 7th from the ascendant lord Venus in Cancer — a kendra. Applies.
• Shodashottari: a day birth (10:30 in the morning) in the dark fortnight. Applies (in its simple form).
• Dwadashottari: the ascendant (1°50′ Libra) is in the first navamsa of Libra, which is Libra, a sign of Venus. Applies.
• Shatabdika: the ascendant is in Libra and in the Libra navamsa: vargottama. Applies.
• Shat-trimshat-sama: a day birth with the ascendant in the Sun's hora. Applies.
• Chaturashiti-sama, Dwisaptati-sama, Panchottari, Shashtihayani: do not apply.

So five of the conditional systems apply to this one chart, as well as Vimshottari. Now look at what each says about late 2026:

#The lesson

The systems disagree. Six of them name four different planets for the same time. This is not peculiar to the example chart; it is the normal situation.

What follows from this?

1. The conditions do not pick one system. The text gives conditions for using each system, but they overlap, as here, and the text does not rank them. In practice nearly all Jyotishis use Vimshottari for everyone and treat the others as secondary.
2. Choose a system before looking at the life, and stick to it. If a reader looks at a past event and then searches the six systems for one that "explains" it, they will almost always find one. That is not evidence that the systems work; it is a certainty, given how many there are. This is one of the most important points in the whole course, and Chapter 52 returns to it.
3. Agreement may be worth noting. When several systems point to the same planet at once — as Vimshottari and Yogini both point to Venus in 2026–2028 in the example chart — some astrologers take this as a sign that the planet's matters will be prominent. That is a reasonable working rule, as long as it is applied consistently.

#Chara dasha: periods of signs

All the systems so far give periods to planets. The Jaimini tradition (Chapter 38) gives periods to signs. In Chara dasha each of the twelve signs rules a period of 1 to 12 years, starting from the ascendant (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 46.155–167; Jaimini Sutras 1.1.26–34). The length of each sign's period is found by counting from the sign to its lord: count forward or backward according to the sign, and the count (less one in some schools) gives the years.

For the example chart, Chara dasha begins with Libra (the ascendant) and gives it 10 years, from birth to 2000. Chapter 38 explains the method fully.

#Summary

• Varahamihira's dasha orders the periods by strength and position (strongest of ascendant, Sun and Moon first, then planets in kendras, panapharas, apoklimas), with sub-periods shared by the planets linked to the period's lord (Brihat Jataka VIII.1–4).
• The natural periods are the same for everyone: Moon 1, Mars 2, Mercury 9, Venus 20, Jupiter 18, Sun 20, Saturn 50 years (VIII.9).
• Parashara's conditional systems (Ashtottari, Shodashottari, Dwadashottari, Panchottari, Shatabdika, Chaturashiti-sama, Dwisaptati-sama, Shashtihayani, Shat-trimshat-sama) each apply under a condition (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 46.17–43); Yogini dasha has a 36-year cycle of eight periods (46.195–199).
• Chara dasha gives periods to signs (Chapter 38).
• Different systems usually disagree about the same time. Choose your system in advance; do not search them for a match after the event.

#Exercises

1. A person's Moon is in Ashvini. Which yogini's period is running at birth?
2. In Varahamihira's sub-periods, a dasha lord has one planet in the same sign and one in the 7th from it. In what proportion are the three sub-periods divided?
3. In the natural periods, which planet rules ages 32 to 50? Why might this fit that stage of life?
4. A chart has the ascendant lord in the 7th house. Which conditional dasha does Parashara prescribe?
5. Explain in your own words why searching several dasha systems for one that matches a past event proves nothing.

Answers: 1. Ashvini is nakshatra 1; 1 + 3 = 4; the 4th yogini is Bhramari (Mars). 2. Lord 1, planet with it ½, planet in the 7th ⅐: over a common denominator of 14, that is 14 : 7 : 2. 3. Jupiter: the age of family, teaching, responsibility and accumulated wisdom. 4. Dwisaptati-sama (72 years). 5. With six or more systems each giving several possible planets for any time, at least one will almost always seem to fit any event; a match found after the event is therefore expected by chance.