Rahu Mahadasha
18 years
15.0% of the 120-year cycle, divided into nine antardashas. Every length here is 18 × B / 120 — arithmetic, not opinion.
Rahu Mahadasha in the cycle
18 of 120 yearsRahu Mahadasha runs for 18 years, which is 15.0% of the 120-year cycle. It follows Mars Mahadasha (7 years) and is followed by Jupiter Mahadasha (16 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 Ardra, Swati, Shatabhisha — the three nakshatras Rahu rules.
The nine antardashas
18 years, dividedEvery mahadasha is divided into nine sub-periods in the same order, starting with its own lord. An antardasha of B inside Rahu runs for 18 × B / 120 years — so the longest here is Rahu–Venus and the shortest is Rahu–Sun. The nine add to 6,574 days, which is the mahadasha’s own rounded length — they divide it with nothing left over and nothing borrowed.
| Antardasha | Length | In days |
|---|---|---|
| Rahu–Rahu | 2y 8m 12d | 986 days |
| Rahu–Jupiter | 2y 4m 25d | 877 days |
| Rahu–Saturn | 2y 10m 6d | 1,041 days |
| Rahu–Mercury | 2y 6m 18d | 931 days |
| Rahu–Ketu | 1y 0m 18d | 383 days |
| Rahu–Venus | 3y 0m 0d | 1,096 days |
| Rahu–Sun | 10m 25d | 329 days |
| Rahu–Moon | 1y 6m 0d | 548 days |
| Rahu–Mars | 1y 0m 18d | 383 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 6,480 days instead of 6,574, a difference of 94. 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 Rahu with ambition, foreign things, sudden rise and the unfamiliar. 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 Rahu 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 Rahu Mahadasha?
18 years, which is 15.0% of the 120-year Vimshottari cycle. It is divided into nine antardashas, the longest being Rahu–Venus.
When does Rahu Mahadasha start?
It runs from birth if the Moon was in Ardra, Swati, Shatabhisha — the nakshatras Rahu rules. Otherwise it arrives in sequence after Mars Mahadasha, and whether it arrives in your lifetime depends on where in the cycle you were born.
What are the antardashas of Rahu Mahadasha?
Nine, in the fixed order starting with Rahu itself. Each runs for 18 x its own dasha years / 120 — for example Rahu–Rahu is 2y 8m 12d. The nine together come to exactly 18 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.