Antardasha and Bhukti Calculation Explained

A mahadasha can last up to twenty years, and life does not stay the same for twenty years. So each mahadasha is divided into nine smaller periods, one for each planet. In North India such a sub-period is called an antardasha. In South India it is called a bhukti. They are the same thing. This article shows how the lengths are worked out, with a rule simple enough to do in your head.

It assumes you know how the mahadashas themselves are found from the Moon's nakshatra. That part is covered in Vimshottari Dasha Calculation Explained.

The Vimshottari years

Planet	Years
Ketu	7
Venus	20
Sun	6
Moon	10
Mars	7
Rahu	18
Jupiter	16
Saturn	19
Mercury	17
Total	120

The planets always run in this order, and after Mercury the cycle returns to Ketu.

The principle

Each planet gets the same share of a sub-period as it has of the whole 120-year cycle. Venus has 20 years out of 120, one sixth of the cycle. So Venus gets one sixth of every mahadasha as her bhukti.

As a formula:

Antardasha in years = (mahadasha years × antardasha years) ÷ 120

The shortcut

Years are awkward, so convert to months. Multiplying by 12 and dividing by 120 is the same as dividing by 10.

Antardasha in months = (mahadasha years × antardasha years) ÷ 10

Which gives the traditional quick rule:

1. Multiply the two planets' years.
2. The last digit × 3 is the number of days.
3. The remaining digits are the number of months.

Examples:

• Venus mahadasha, Sun bhukti. 20 × 6 = 120. Last digit 0, so 0 days. Remaining digits 12, so 12 months. One year.
• Saturn mahadasha, Mercury bhukti. 19 × 17 = 323. Last digit 3, so 9 days. Remaining digits 32, so 32 months. That is 2 years 8 months 9 days.
• Rahu mahadasha, Jupiter bhukti. 18 × 16 = 288. Last digit 8, so 24 days. Remaining digits 28, so 28 months. That is 2 years 4 months 24 days.

One useful result of the formula: the Jupiter bhukti in Rahu mahadasha is exactly as long as the Rahu bhukti in Jupiter mahadasha. The length depends only on the two planets, not on which one is the mahadasha lord.

The order of the sub-periods

Two rules:

1. The first bhukti belongs to the mahadasha lord himself.
2. The others follow in the Vimshottari order from that planet.

So in the Jupiter mahadasha the order is Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu.

A full example: the Jupiter mahadasha

Jupiter's mahadasha lasts 16 years.

Bhukti	Product	Length
Jupiter	16 × 16 = 256	2 years 1 month 18 days
Saturn	16 × 19 = 304	2 years 6 months 12 days
Mercury	16 × 17 = 272	2 years 3 months 6 days
Ketu	16 × 7 = 112	11 months 6 days
Venus	16 × 20 = 320	2 years 8 months
Sun	16 × 6 = 96	9 months 18 days
Moon	16 × 10 = 160	1 year 4 months
Mars	16 × 7 = 112	11 months 6 days
Rahu	16 × 18 = 288	2 years 4 months 24 days

Add them up: the months come to 189 and the days to 90, which is 3 more months. That makes 192 months, exactly 16 years. The table closes, as it must.

The opening bhukti of each mahadasha

The first sub-period of a mahadasha, the planet's own bhukti, is a useful figure to know.

Mahadasha	Own bhukti
Ketu (7)	4 months 27 days
Venus (20)	3 years 4 months
Sun (6)	3 months 18 days
Moon (10)	10 months
Mars (7)	4 months 27 days
Rahu (18)	2 years 8 months 12 days
Jupiter (16)	2 years 1 month 18 days
Saturn (19)	3 years 3 days
Mercury (17)	2 years 4 months 27 days

The longest sub-period in the whole system is Venus in Venus, at 3 years 4 months. The shortest is Sun in Sun, at 3 months 18 days.

Going one level deeper: pratyantardasha

Each bhukti is divided again into nine parts by the same proportion. These are called pratyantardashas, or simply antaras in the south. The shortcut here is:

Pratyantardasha in days = (mahadasha years × antardasha years × pratyantar years) ÷ 40

Example: Jupiter mahadasha, Saturn bhukti, Saturn pratyantar. 16 × 19 × 19 = 5,776. Divide by 40 and you get about 144 days.

The order follows the same two rules: the first pratyantar belongs to the bhukti lord, and the rest follow in Vimshottari order. Divisions continue to finer levels, but they need an exact birth time to be meaningful.

Finding the dates

The lengths above are fixed. The dates are personal, and they start from the balance of dasha at birth.

1. Find the mahadasha running at birth and how much of it remained.
2. A child is usually born part of the way through a mahadasha, so part of the way through one of its bhuktis. List the bhuktis of that mahadasha from its theoretical start, which is before birth, and see which one contains the birth date.
3. From the start of the next mahadasha onward, add the bhukti lengths one after another.

A common mistake is to start the first mahadasha's bhuktis from the birth date. The elapsed part of the mahadasha must be accounted for first.

Why two programs give slightly different dates

• Length of the year. The shortcut uses months of 30 days, so a year of 360 days. Some astrologers keep that year. Others use the solar year of about 365.25 days and scale the sub-periods to it. Over a long mahadasha the dates can differ by weeks.
• Ayanamsa. A different ayanamsa moves the Moon's position slightly, which changes the starting balance and so every later date.
• Birth time. Four minutes of birth time move the Moon by about two minutes of arc, which shifts the dasha dates by roughly two weeks in a long dasha.

The order and the proportions never change. Only the calendar dates move.

Reading a bhukti

The lengths are arithmetic. The reading is astrology. Three checks cover most of it.

1. The mahadasha lord sets the theme. The broad nature of a period is described in articles such as Rahu Mahadasha Effects and Saturn Mahadasha Effects.
2. The bhukti lord gives the details. Look at the houses he rules and occupies in the birth chart.
3. The relation between the two. Count from the mahadasha lord to the bhukti lord. When they are in kendras or trikonas from each other, or are friends, the sub-period runs smoothly. When they are in the 6th and 8th, or the 2nd and 12th, from each other, it needs more adjustment. This is a matter of ease and effort, not of good and bad luck.

The last bhukti of a mahadasha is a time of winding up, when matters begun in that mahadasha are completed and the ground is prepared for the next.

Vimshottari is not the only system. Shorter cycles such as the one in Yogini Dasha Explained divide their periods by the same proportional method.

Summary

An antardasha or bhukti is a planet's proportional share of a mahadasha. Multiply the years of the two planets and divide by 10 to get months. The last digit times 3 gives the days. The first bhukti belongs to the mahadasha lord and the rest follow in Vimshottari order. A third level, the pratyantardasha, is found by multiplying three figures and dividing by 40 to get days.

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