Vimshottari Dasha divides life into nine planetary periods that add up to 120 years. The first period belongs to the ruler of the star where the Moon was when you were born, and it lasts only for the stretch the Moon still had to cover before leaving that star. The math is a simple rule of three, and K. S. Krishnamurti himself teaches it with an example in KP Reader I.
The nine periods
Each planet rules a period of fixed length. The order is also fixed (KP Reader I, p. 82):
| Ruler | Years |
|---|---|
| Ketu | 7 |
| Venus | 20 |
| Sun | 6 |
| Moon | 10 |
| Mars | 7 |
| Rahu | 18 |
| Jupiter | 16 |
| Saturn | 19 |
| Mercury | 17 |
The total is 120. After Mercury, the sequence goes back to Ketu. Nobody has to start with Ketu. The entry point depends on the Moon.
Where the first period comes from
The zodiac has 27 nakshatras, the stars of Vedic astrology. Each one measures 13°20′, or 800′ (minutes of arc, a measure of angle). Each star has a ruler, in the same order as the table: Ashwini belongs to Ketu, Bharani to Venus, Krittika to the Sun, Rohini to the Moon, and so on.
Krishnamurti describes the procedure in one long sentence: take the exact position of the Moon at birth, find the star, its ruler, that ruler's years, the stretch the Moon has already covered and the balance that remains (KP Reader I, p. 82). On the page of the example he stresses it again: to find the balance of the period at birth, look only at the part of the star still to be covered (KP Reader I, p. 87).
Balance at birth = (part of the star remaining ÷ 800′) × years of the ruler
Krishnamurti's example, step by step
The Moon is at 16° Taurus, which is 46° counted from 0° Aries (KP Reader I, p. 87).
- Rohini runs from 40° to 53°20′ of the zodiac. It is ruled by the Moon, which has 10 years.
- The Moon has already moved 6° within Rohini. That stretch stays out of the calculation.
- What remains is 53°20′ minus 46°, which is 7°20′, or 440′.
- The remaining fraction is 440 ÷ 800 = 0.55.
- The balance is 0.55 × 10 years = 5.5 years.
The result matches the book: 5 years and 6 months of Moon period from birth (KP Reader I, pp. 87 and 88). We checked the math in Python with exact fractions: 440/800 is 11/20, and 11/20 of 10 years gives 11/2 years.
The book also offers a shortcut, a table of how much each degree of a star is worth in time (KP Reader I, p. 87). For the Moon, each degree is worth 9 months. So 7°20′ × 9 months gives 66 months, the same 5 years and 6 months. We redid all nine rows of that table and they all match dividing the years by 13°20′.
After the balance, the periods come in full
The balance applies only to the first period. The following ones come in with their full length, in the order of the table. In the example, after the Moon's 5 years and 6 months come 7 years of Mars, 18 of Rahu, 16 of Jupiter and so on.
The most common mistake is counting the Moon's full 10 years from birth. That pushes every following date forward by 4 years and 6 months.
From durations to dates
To turn into a calendar, the calculation needs a year length. Krishnamurti discusses the 360-day year and the 365¼-day year and concludes that "365¼ days must be taken" (KP Reader I, p. 97). Vedik uses the same 365.25-day year.
Here is the example for someone born on March 10, 1990 with this Moon. The 5.5 years become 2,008.875 days.
| Period | Length | Starts | Ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moon (balance) | 5 years and 6 months | Mar 1990 | Sep 1995 |
| Mars | 7 years | Sep 1995 | Sep 2002 |
| Rahu | 18 years | Sep 2002 | Sep 2020 |
| Jupiter | 16 years | Sep 2020 | Sep 2036 |
| Saturn | 19 years | Sep 2036 | Sep 2055 |
The choice of year matters. With a 360-day year, the start of Jupiter in this example would fall in April 2020, about five months earlier. When two calendars disagree by months, the first thing to check is the year length.
The sub-period running at birth
Krishnamurti takes the same example one step further. Within Rohini, the band from 15°40′ to 17°46′40″ Taurus is the sub of Saturn. With the Moon at 16°, the birth falls in the Saturn sub-period within the Moon period (KP Reader I, p. 88). This whole sub-period lasts 19 months. Since 1°46′40″ remained of a 2°06′40″ band, the math gives 16 months of Saturn ahead. The guide to bhukti and antardasha shows how the sub-periods fit together.
How to check your calculation
- The balance has to fall between zero and the full length of the ruler's period. A balance of 23 years for Venus, which has 20, points to an error.
- The second period is always the next one in the order. After the Moon comes Mars.
- If the Moon is near the edge of a star, a few minutes on the clock change the starting ruler. The ayanamsa also shifts the Moon and can change the result.
At Vedik
Vedik does this calculation with the positions of the planets from the Swiss ephemeris, Krishnamurti's own ayanamsa and the 365.25-day year he says to use. Your reading shows the sequence of your periods, with the start and end year of each one, and marks the period you are in. What each period brings depends on the houses the ruler signifies in your chart, and the phases explain each ruler. The method shows the calendar. The last word on what to do with it is always yours.
To see your balance at birth and the sequence of your periods, create your free reading.
