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hard work, duty and delay
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Today’s panchangall five angas with exact timesTithithe lunar day, and when it endsNakshatrathe Moon’s position todayHorathe planetary hour, all twenty-fourRahu Kaalthe time to avoid starting new workChoghadiyaday and night, each split into eightFestivalsDiwali, Holi and 81 more, with the rule behind each dateVratEkadashi with parana, Purnima, Amavasya, Pradosh
15.8% of the cycle
Saturn (Shani) Mahadasha
19 years
Saturn mahadasha runs 19 years and is read for hard work, duty and delay. What it brings you depends on where Saturn sits in your kundli.
Saturn mahadasha in the cycle
19 of 120 years. It follows Jupiter (16 years) and comes before Mercury (17 years). You are born into it if the Moon was in Pushya, Anuradha or Uttara Bhadrapada, the three nakshatras Saturn rules.
Ketu7y
Venus20y
Sun6y
Moon10y
Mars7y
Rahu18y
Jupiter16y
Saturn19y
Mercury17y
The nine antardashas
Each runs for 19 × its own lord’s years ÷ 120. The longest is Saturn–Venus, the shortest Saturn–Sun; together they make up the 19 years.
A dasha year here is 365.25 days, the common modern convention; a panchang using a 360-day year will give slightly different dates, in the same ratio. Each length is rounded to the day.
As Parashara reads them (BPHS chapter 57)
Each line is the text’s reading when the antardasha lord is well placed, and when it is not; your kundli decides which applies.
Shani (Saturn) antardasha
Goes well: BPHS gives a rise to authority, happiness from spouse and children, vehicles and clothes, and a position of command through the favour of those in power. It also gives livestock, property and land.
Hard: BPHS warns, at the start of the period, of fear of the authorities, injury from a weapon, bleeding gums and dysentery. In the middle part it warns of danger from thieves, leaving one's homeland and mental anguish. It says the last part gives good results.
Caution: When Shani rules the 2nd or 7th house, BPHS counts this sub-period maraka (a time the texts link with danger to life) and warns of the danger of untimely death.
Remedy: BPHS says Lord Shiva gives protection and relief when the Mrityunjaya japa (the Mahamrityunjaya mantra, recited for health and long life) is performed in the prescribed way.
BPHS 57.1–7Budh (Mercury) antardasha
Goes well: BPHS gives respect from people, a good name, wealth and comfortable vehicles. It also gives an inclination to perform yajnas (sacred fire rituals), the results of a Raj Yoga (a combination that raises one to standing and power), ease of body, enthusiasm and well-being in the family. It adds pilgrimage, religious rites, listening to the Puranas, charity and sweet food.
Hard: BPHS warns of illness, failure in all ventures, anxiety and a sense of danger in the middle and last parts of the period.
Caution: When Budh rules the 2nd or 7th house, BPHS warns of distress to the body.
Remedy: For relief from these troubles and to enjoy life again, BPHS prescribes reciting the Vishnu Sahasranama (the thousand names of Vishnu) and giving grain in charity.
BPHS 57.8–15Ketu antardasha
Goes well: BPHS gives a good start only through Ketu's link with the lagna lord: gain of wealth, enjoyment, bathing at holy places and a visit to a sacred shrine at the start of the antardasha (sub-period).
Hard: BPHS sets it as the general rule that in Shani's mahadasha Ketu's antardasha harms even from these good placements, and warns of loss of position, dangers, poverty, distress and journeys abroad.
Caution: When Ketu sits in the 2nd or 7th house, BPHS warns of distress to the body.
Remedy: For relief from these troubles and to enjoy life again by Ketu's grace, BPHS prescribes giving a goat in charity.
BPHS 57.16–23Shukra (Venus) antardasha
Goes well: BPHS gives marriage, the birth of a son, wealth, good health and well-being in the family. It also gives a rise to authority, enjoyment through the favour of those in power, honours, and clothes, jewellery, vehicles and other things one wishes for.
Hard: BPHS warns of distress to one's spouse, loss of position, mental anguish and quarrels with close relations.
Caution: When Shukra rules the 2nd or 7th house, BPHS warns of distress to the body.
Remedy: For relief from these troubles and to regain enjoyment and good health, BPHS turns to the grace of Goddess Durga: reciting the Durga Saptashati, and giving a cow or a female buffalo in charity.
BPHS 57.24–36Surya (Sun) antardasha
Goes well: BPHS gives good relations with one's employer, well-being in the family, happiness from children, and vehicles and livestock.
Hard: BPHS warns of heart trouble, a bad name, loss of position, mental anguish, separation from close relatives and obstacles in business ventures. It also warns of fevers, fears, loss of kinsmen and the loss of things one holds dear.
Caution: When Surya rules the 2nd or 7th house, BPHS warns of distress to the body.
Remedy: For relief from these troubles, BPHS prescribes the worship of Surya.
BPHS 57.37–42Chandra (Moon) antardasha
Goes well: BPHS gives vehicles, garments and jewellery, better fortune and enjoyment, and care for one's brothers. It also gives happiness in both the mother's and the father's family homes, and more livestock.
Hard: BPHS warns of great distress, anger, separation from parents, ill health of children, losses in business, irregular meals and a need for medicines.
Caution: When Chandra rules the 2nd or 7th house, BPHS warns of lethargy and distress to the body.
Remedy: For relief from these troubles and for a longer life, BPHS prescribes a havan (sacred fire offering), and giving in charity jaggery, ghee, rice mixed with curd, and a cow or a female buffalo.
BPHS 57.43–54Mangal (Mars) antardasha
Goes well: BPHS gives, from the very start of the antardasha (sub-period), enjoyment, wealth, honour from those in power, vehicles, clothes and jewellery, and a position of command. It also gives more farm and livestock wealth, the building of a new house, and happiness for one's kinsmen.
Hard: BPHS warns of loss of wealth, the danger of wounds, danger from thieves, snakes and weapons, gout and similar ailments, and distress to father and brothers. It also warns of quarrels with partners, loss of kinsmen, coarse food, going away to foreign lands and needless spending.
Caution: When Mangal sits in the 2nd house, or rules the 7th or 8th house, BPHS warns of great distress, dependence on others and the fear of untimely death.
Remedy: For relief from these troubles, BPHS prescribes a havan (sacred fire offering) and giving a bull in charity.
BPHS 57.55–62Rahu antardasha
Goes well: BPHS gives, at the start of the antardasha (sub-period), enjoyment, wealth, better harvests, devotion to the deities and Brahmins, pilgrimage, more livestock and well-being in the family. In its middle part it gives good relations with those in power and happiness from friends.
Hard: BPHS warns of quarrels, mental anguish, bodily distress, friction with one's sons, the danger of illness, needless spending and discord with close relations. It also warns of danger from the government, journeys abroad, and loss of house and farmland.
Caution: When Rahu is joined by the lord of the 2nd or 7th house, BPHS warns of distress to the body.
Remedy: For relief from these troubles, BPHS prescribes the Mrityunjaya japa (the Mahamrityunjaya mantra, recited for health and long life) and giving a goat in charity.
BPHS 57.63–70Guru (Jupiter) antardasha
Goes well: BPHS gives success all round, well-being in the family, and vehicles, jewellery and clothes through the favour of those in power. It also gives respect, devotion to the deities and to one's guru, the company of learned people, and happiness from spouse and children.
Hard: BPHS warns of the loss of near relatives, loss of wealth, friction with government officials, failed projects and journeys to foreign lands. It also warns of illnesses such as leprosy.
Caution: When Guru rules the 2nd or 7th house, BPHS counts this sub-period maraka (a time the texts link with danger to life).
Remedy: For relief from these troubles, BPHS prescribes reciting the Shiva Sahasranama (the thousand names of Shiva) and giving gold in charity.
BPHS 57.71–82What Saturn mahadasha is read for
What the tradition reads it for, and what decides it in a chart.
Decided by your chart
The houses Saturn rules in your kundli, the house it sits in and its strength there. In a kendra (the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th house) or a trikona (the 1st, 5th or 9th), strong in its own rashi, it tends to give good results; in the 6th, 8th or 12th it asks for care. See Saturn (Shani) in each house and its upay.
Read for your chart
The dasha calculator finds when Saturn mahadasha falls in your life and reads it, and each of its antardashas, for your chart. Find my dasha.
What Parashara says of this mahadasha (BPHS 47.52–60)
His readings come with conditions: where the dasha lord sits in your kundli, and what it joins. The old text speaks of a man; it applies to anyone.
When it goes well
- When Shani (Saturn) is exalted, in his own rashi, his mooltrikona (root sign of strength) or a friendly rashi, in his own or exalted navamsha (the ninth-part division), and in the 3rd or 11th house, BPHS gives recognition from the government, prosperity and standing, name and fame, success in studies, vehicles and ornaments, gain of wealth, favour from the government, a high post of command, a rise to authority, the grace of Devi Lakshmi, gain of property, and the birth of children.BPHS 47.53–56
- When Shani is joined with or aspected by a benefic, or is in a kendra (the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th house) or a trikona (the 1st, 5th or 9th house), or is in Dhanu (Sagittarius) or Meen (Pisces), BPHS gives a rise to authority, vehicles and clothes.BPHS 47.57–60
When it is hard
- When Shani is in the 6th, 8th or 12th house, in his debilitation rashi, or combust, BPHS warns of harm from poison and injury from weapons, separation from the father, distress for spouse and children, trouble through the displeasure of the government, and imprisonment, and asks for care on each of these.BPHS 47.57–60
Shani mahadasha is not Sade Sati. The mahadasha is a period of your dasha timeline, fixed at birth; Sade Sati is Shani’s seven and a half years over the 12th, 1st and 2nd from your Moon, which every rashi meets about every thirty years. The two can run at the same time, and then Shani’s matters weigh more. Sade Sati dates for each rashi.
Upay in Saturn mahadasha
Suggestions the tradition gives while Saturn’s period runs; your kundli says which apply.
What helps
- Offer mustard oil to a Shani idol on Saturdays
- Recite Shani Chalisa or Hanuman Chalisa
- Feed crows with cooked rice
- Serve the elderly and disabled
- Do hard work without expecting immediate results
What to keep clear of
- Don't disrespect servants or workers
- Avoid laziness
- Don't harm the elderly or disabled
Beej mantra and daan
The beej mantra is Shani’s seed sound, chanted with a count.
ॐ प्रां प्रीं प्रौं सः शनैश्चराय नमः
Daan: black sesame and iron, on Saturday
Saturn mahadasha for each lagna
Whether Parashara counts Saturn good or hard for your lagna sets the tone of this period.
| Lagna | Saturn is (lord of) |
|---|---|
| Mesh (Aries) | Malefic 10th and 11th |
| Vrishabh (Taurus) | Yogakaraka 9th and 10th |
| Mithun (Gemini) | Neutral 8th and 9th |
| Kark (Cancer) | Maraka 7th and 8th |
| Singh (Leo) | Malefic · Maraka 6th and 7th |
| Kanya (Virgo) | Neutral 5th and 6th |
| Tula (Libra) | Yogakaraka 4th and 5th |
| Vrishchik (Scorpio) | Malefic 3rd and 4th |
| Dhanu (Sagittarius) | Maraka 2nd and 3rd |
| Makar (Capricorn) | Neutral— the lagna lord; not a killer on his own, the verse says (34.39) 1st and 2nd |
| Kumbh (Aquarius) | Benefic— the lagna lord, and one the verse itself names auspicious for Kumbh (34.41) 1st and 12th |
| Meen (Pisces) | Malefic · Maraka— lord of the 11th and 12th, not the 2nd or 7th; the verse names it a killer all the same (34.43–44) 11th and 12th |
The labels, from Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, chapter 34:
- Yogakaraka: the strongest graha a lagna can have: the one Parashara names as bringing yoga, or the one lord of both a kendra (1st, 4th, 7th, 10th) and a trikona (1st, 5th, 9th) (34.13)
- Benefic, Malefic, Neutral: works for the lagna; brings its harder matters; neither
- Lagna lord: the lagna’s own graha, where the verse calls it neither good nor hard
- Maraka: a killer Parashara names for the lagna, watched for health and longevity; printed alone, or after another label. It is not always the lord of the 2nd or 7th: where it differs, the line under it gives the verse
- · Yoga: one of two grahas he says give yoga together for this lagna
All nine mahadashas
Common questions
How long is Saturn mahadasha?
19 years, 15.8% of the 120-year cycle, divided into nine antardashas.
When does Saturn mahadasha start?
From birth, if the Moon was in Pushya, Anuradha or Uttara Bhadrapada at birth; otherwise when Jupiter mahadasha ends. Whether it comes in your lifetime depends on which mahadasha was running when you were born.
Is Saturn mahadasha good or bad?
Neither in general. It depends on the houses Saturn rules and occupies in your chart and its strength there; the calculator reads it for yours.
Which dasha you are running is a fact about your chart.
It follows from the Moon’s nakshatra at your birth. Enter your birth details and the whole 120-year timeline comes with it, each period read for your chart.
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