Ketu Mahadasha
7 years
5.8% of the 120-year cycle, divided into nine antardashas. Every length here is 7 × B / 120 — arithmetic, not opinion.
Ketu Mahadasha in the cycle
7 of 120 yearsKetu Mahadasha runs for 7 years, which is 5.8% of the 120-year cycle. It follows Mercury Mahadasha (17 years) and is followed by Venus Mahadasha (20 years). Because the cycle is 120 years long and a life is not, most people meet it once or not at all — when it arrives depends entirely on where in the sequence you were born.
You are born into it if the Moon was in Ashwini, Magha, Mula — the three nakshatras Ketu rules.
The nine antardashas
7 years, dividedEvery mahadasha is divided into nine sub-periods in the same order, starting with its own lord. An antardasha of B inside Ketu runs for 7 × B / 120 years — so the longest here is Ketu–Venus and the shortest is Ketu–Sun. The nine add to 2,557 days, which is the mahadasha’s own rounded length — they divide it with nothing left over and nothing borrowed.
| Antardasha | Length | In days |
|---|---|---|
| Ketu–Ketu | 4m 27d | 149 days |
| Ketu–Venus | 1y 2m 0d | 426 days |
| Ketu–Sun | 4m 6d | 128 days |
| Ketu–Moon | 7m 0d | 213 days |
| Ketu–Mars | 4m 27d | 149 days |
| Ketu–Rahu | 1y 0m 19d | 384 days |
| Ketu–Jupiter | 11m 6d | 341 days |
| Ketu–Saturn | 1y 1m 9d | 405 days |
| Ketu–Mercury | 11m 27d | 362 days |
A DASHA YEAR HERE IS 365.25 DAYS, which is what the chart engine uses. It is the common modern convention and it is not the only one — software set to a 360-day savana year makes this mahadasha 2,520 days instead of 2,557, a difference of 37. So these figures match a panchang using the same year length, and will differ from one that does not. The ratio between the nine sub-periods is the same either way.
What the tradition associates with it
attributed, not predictedClassical jyotisha associates Ketu with detachment, endings, and the pull toward what is not material. That is the tradition’s reading and it is offered as such: everything above this line is arithmetic, and this line is not. What a period does in a particular life depends on where Ketu actually sits in that chart — which house it rules, which it occupies, and what aspects it. A page cannot know that; a chart can.
All nine mahadashas
120 years end to endCommon questions
3 questionsHow long is Ketu Mahadasha?
7 years, which is 5.8% of the 120-year Vimshottari cycle. It is divided into nine antardashas, the longest being Ketu–Venus.
When does Ketu Mahadasha start?
It runs from birth if the Moon was in Ashwini, Magha, Mula — the nakshatras Ketu rules. Otherwise it arrives in sequence after Mercury Mahadasha, and whether it arrives in your lifetime depends on where in the cycle you were born.
What are the antardashas of Ketu Mahadasha?
Nine, in the fixed order starting with Ketu itself. Each runs for 7 x its own dasha years / 120 — for example Ketu–Ketu is 0y 4m 27d. The nine together come to exactly 7 years.
Which dasha you are running is a fact about your chart.
It follows from the Moon’s nakshatra at your birth. Cast the chart free and the whole 120-year timeline comes with it.