Mercury (Budh) Mahadasha
17 years
14.2% of the 120-year cycle, divided into nine antardashas. Every length here is 17 × B / 120 — arithmetic, not opinion.
Mercury Mahadasha in the cycle
17 of 120 yearsMercury Mahadasha runs for 17 years, which is 14.2% of the 120-year cycle. It follows Saturn Mahadasha (19 years) and is followed by Ketu Mahadasha (7 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 Ashlesha, Jyeshtha, Revati — the three nakshatras Mercury rules.
The nine antardashas
17 years, dividedEvery mahadasha is divided into nine sub-periods in the same order, starting with its own lord. An antardasha of B inside Mercury runs for 17 × B / 120 years — so the longest here is Mercury–Venus and the shortest is Mercury–Sun. The nine add to 6,209 days, which is the mahadasha’s own rounded length — they divide it with nothing left over and nothing borrowed.
| Antardasha | Length | In days |
|---|---|---|
| Mercury–Mercury | 2y 4m 28d | 880 days |
| Mercury–Ketu | 11m 27d | 362 days |
| Mercury–Venus | 2y 10m 0d | 1,035 days |
| Mercury–Sun | 10m 7d | 311 days |
| Mercury–Moon | 1y 5m 0d | 517 days |
| Mercury–Mars | 11m 27d | 362 days |
| Mercury–Rahu | 2y 6m 18d | 931 days |
| Mercury–Jupiter | 2y 3m 6d | 828 days |
| Mercury–Saturn | 2y 8m 9d | 983 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 6,120 days instead of 6,209, a difference of 89. 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 Mercury with speech, trade, study, analysis and the hands. 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 Mercury 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 Mercury Mahadasha?
17 years, which is 14.2% of the 120-year Vimshottari cycle. It is divided into nine antardashas, the longest being Mercury–Venus.
When does Mercury Mahadasha start?
It runs from birth if the Moon was in Ashlesha, Jyeshtha, Revati — the nakshatras Mercury rules. Otherwise it arrives in sequence after Saturn Mahadasha, and whether it arrives in your lifetime depends on where in the cycle you were born.
What are the antardashas of Mercury Mahadasha?
Nine, in the fixed order starting with Mercury itself. Each runs for 17 x its own dasha years / 120 — for example Mercury–Mercury is 2y 4m 28d. The nine together come to exactly 17 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.