Glossary · Astrology
Dasha
दशा
What does Dasha mean?
The Vimshottari dasha system divides a 120-year cycle among the nine grahas, from Ketu's 7 years to Venus's 20. Your birth nakshatra sets where in the cycle your life begins, and each period (mahadasha) and sub-period (antardasha) is read for its themes.
Dashas are Jyotish's distinctive timing tool: two people with similar charts can live very different decades because they are running different planetary periods. Astrologers combine dasha with transits (gochara) for prediction.