Sun Mahadasha: 6 Years of Surya

A mahadasha is the major period of a planet, of constant length. The period of Surya, the Sun, lasts six years within a vimshottari cycle that totals one hundred twenty, and it stands at the head of the series. It begins life when the natal Moon is in one of the nakshatras Krittika, Uttara Phalguni or Uttara Ashadha. Nine sub-periods follow one another within it, the antardashas, each handed to a second planet. This division comes from Vedic astrology, which calculates in the sidereal zodiac and does not carry over to Western astrology.

What these six years awaken depends on your natal Sun. It carries you when it is in its own sign, exalted, in a kendra, an angular house, in house 11, or joined to the lord of the 9th or the 10th. The atmosphere is then one of recognition: the favor of those in power, a visible place, a post of command. With the Sun debilitated, weak in house 6, 8 or 12, or associated with a malefic, this same area comes under strain. You may experience clashes with authority, being set aside, a contested reputation, enmities without reason, and worry. Your father and your uncles are the sensitive point of these years.

This period can also depart from that schedule: the length then results from another calculation and first rank goes to the strongest planet. It brings you courage and perseverance, renown, but also roughness, generosity in giving and quarrels with servants. A favorable period then delivers only good, an unfavorable one only bad, a mixed one both. In the vimshottari, on the contrary, each effect is classified straight away according to the condition of the planet.

To read about the graha itself, open the Surya guide.