Chara Dasha Calculator (Jaimini)

Where the sequence starts, and which way it turns

The first period belongs to the lagna, the sign rising at birth, and it starts at the birth moment itself; unlike the nakshatra dashas, a chara period carries no balance from before birth. The direction is read from the ninth sign counted from the lagna. If that ninth sign is Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Libra, Scorpio or Sagittarius, the periods move forward through the zodiac; if it is Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Capricorn, Aquarius or Pisces, they move backward.

The example rises in Scorpio at 11°23′. The ninth sign from Scorpio is Cancer, one of the backward group, so the sequence reads Scorpio, Libra, Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Sagittarius.

Counting a sign to its lord

Each sign's years come from a count. Starting at the sign and including it, count to the sign where its lord sits, then subtract one. The same six signs that set the direction, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius, are counted forward; the other six are counted backward. A lord sitting in its own sign gives a count of one, so nothing is left after subtracting, and the rule then grants the full twelve years.

In the example Venus, lord of Libra, sits in Scorpio, the next sign forward, so Libra gets one year. Mercury, lord of Virgo, also sits in Scorpio, but Virgo is counted backward: Virgo, Leo, Cancer and on round to Scorpio is eleven signs, so Virgo gets ten years. Saturn sits in its own Capricorn, so Capricorn gets twelve.

Scorpio and Aquarius, the signs with two lords

Scorpio is ruled by Mars and Ketu, Aquarius by Saturn and Rahu, and only one of the two can be used. If one lord sits in the sign itself, the count runs to the other; if both sit there, the sign gets twelve years. Otherwise the stronger lord is taken: first the one joined by more planets, then the one in better dignity, then the one in the stronger kind of sign, dual over fixed over movable, and last the one further advanced in its sign.

The example uses two of these rules. Mars sits in Scorpio, so Scorpio's count runs to Ketu in Capricorn, three signs forward, and Scorpio gets two years. For Aquarius, Saturn in Capricorn is joined by Jupiter and Ketu while Rahu in Cancer is alone, so Saturn is the stronger lord; counting backward from Aquarius it is the next sign, and Aquarius gets one year.

The second cycle

The twelve first-cycle periods add up to a total that depends on the chart; in the example they come to 61 years, ending in December 2022. The second cycle visits the signs in the same order but gives each one twelve minus its first-cycle years, so a sign that had two years now has ten, and a sign that had the full twelve has nothing and is passed over. Because every sign's two periods add up to twelve years, the two cycles together always come to exactly 144 years.

So the example's second cycle opens with Scorpio for ten years, from December 2022 to December 2032, followed by Libra for eleven, and Capricorn, which had twelve the first time, does not appear in it at all.

How this calculator computes the periods

The signs of the lagna and the nine grahas come from the same birth-chart calculation the full workspace uses, with the ayanamsa you choose in the form. The direction, every sign's years and every date are then worked out on this page by the rules above, using a sidereal year of 365.2564 days. The full workspace's Chara tab can currently start its sequence from a different sign for many charts, so its order may not match this page.

Two points of practice vary between schools and are worth knowing. Some readers add a year when the lord is exalted and take one away when it is debilitated; the count here is the plain one, without that adjustment. And the order of the sub-periods inside a sign is taught in more than one way, so the result lists the major periods only; each sub-period is one-twelfth of its major period.

The 1961 cycle in full

Read down the example table: Scorpio 2 years, Libra 1, Virgo 10, Leo 9, Cancer 5, Gemini 5, Taurus 6, Aries 7, Pisces 2, Aquarius 1, Capricorn 12 and Sagittarius 1. The short periods cluster where a lord sits in the next sign along the count, and the long ones where the count has to travel nearly all the way round, which is why the Sun and Mercury, both in Scorpio, give Leo and Virgo nine and ten years.

The chara periods describe which sign is the focus of a stretch of time, for reference beside the planetary dashas. The page reports the sequence and its dates; how a sign's period is read is left to the whole chart.

How is chara dasha calculated?

Start from the lagna. If the ninth sign from it is Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Libra, Scorpio or Sagittarius the periods run forward through the zodiac, otherwise backward. Each sign's years are the count from the sign to its lord (forward for those six signs, backward for the rest) minus one, with zero becoming twelve.

Where does chara dasha start?

From the rising sign, at the moment of birth. There is no balance carried from before birth, unlike the nakshatra dashas such as Vimshottari and Yogini.

How many years does each sign get in chara dasha?

Between one and twelve, depending on the chart. A sign whose lord sits in the next sign along the count gets one year; a lord in its own sign gives twelve. In the second cycle each sign gets twelve minus its first-cycle years.

How are Scorpio and Aquarius handled?

Each has two lords, Mars and Ketu for Scorpio and Saturn and Rahu for Aquarius. If one lord occupies the sign the count runs to the other; if both do, the sign gets twelve years; otherwise the stronger lord is used, judged first by the number of planets with it.

Why does this page not list chara antardashas?

Every sub-period is one-twelfth of its major period, but schools differ on the order the twelve sub-periods follow, so the page lists the major periods it can compute without choosing between them.

Why might another chara dasha calculator differ?

The usual causes are a different lagna (the rising sign changes about every two hours, so the birth time matters), the exalted/debilitated year adjustment some schools apply, a different tie-break for Scorpio or Aquarius, or a different starting rule altogether.