Sun (Surya) Mahadasha
6 years
5.0% of the 120-year cycle, divided into nine antardashas. Every length here is 6 × B / 120 — arithmetic, not opinion.
Sun Mahadasha in the cycle
6 of 120 yearsSun Mahadasha runs for 6 years, which is 5.0% of the 120-year cycle. It follows Venus Mahadasha (20 years) and is followed by Moon Mahadasha (10 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 Krittika, Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Ashadha — the three nakshatras Sun rules.
The nine antardashas
6 years, dividedEvery mahadasha is divided into nine sub-periods in the same order, starting with its own lord. An antardasha of B inside Sun runs for 6 × B / 120 years — so the longest here is Sun–Venus and the shortest is Sun–Sun. The nine add to 2,192 days, which is the mahadasha’s own rounded length — they divide it with nothing left over and nothing borrowed.
| Antardasha | Length | In days |
|---|---|---|
| Sun–Sun | 3m 19d | 110 days |
| Sun–Moon | 6m 0d | 183 days |
| Sun–Mars | 4m 6d | 128 days |
| Sun–Rahu | 10m 25d | 329 days |
| Sun–Jupiter | 9m 18d | 292 days |
| Sun–Saturn | 11m 12d | 347 days |
| Sun–Mercury | 10m 6d | 310 days |
| Sun–Ketu | 4m 6d | 128 days |
| Sun–Venus | 1y 0m 0d | 365 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 2,160 days instead of 2,192, a difference of 32. 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 Sun with authority, the father, recognition and the spine of a life. 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 Sun 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 Sun Mahadasha?
6 years, which is 5.0% of the 120-year Vimshottari cycle. It is divided into nine antardashas, the longest being Sun–Venus.
When does Sun Mahadasha start?
It runs from birth if the Moon was in Krittika, Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Ashadha — the nakshatras Sun rules. Otherwise it arrives in sequence after Venus Mahadasha, and whether it arrives in your lifetime depends on where in the cycle you were born.
What are the antardashas of Sun Mahadasha?
Nine, in the fixed order starting with Sun itself. Each runs for 6 x its own dasha years / 120 — for example Sun–Sun is 0y 3m 19d. The nine together come to exactly 6 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.