Dashas (planetary periods)

Dashas are planetary ruling periods in Vedic astrology. Each planet “governs” a stretch of the native’s life, and the sequence of these periods is what explains the timing of events. AstroWay computes 10 dasha systems × 5 nesting levels = 50 endpoints through a single API.

What we calculate

• Vimshottari: the primary system (120-year cycle, anchored to the Moon’s nakshatra at birth). Used by ~95% of modern jyotish practitioners.
• Yogini: 36-year cycle, eight governing goddesses (Mangala, Pingala, Dhanya, Bhramari, Bhadrika, Ulka, Siddha, Sankata).
• Ashtottari: 108-year cycle, Sun-anchored.
• Kalachakra: cyclic dasha based on nakshatra, non-linear progression.
• Chara: rasi-dasha (signs rule, not planets), Jaimini school.
• Tribhagi: variant of Vimshottari with tripled pace.
• Shatabdika: 100-year cycle (rare, for longevity charts).
• Shodashottari: 116-year cycle, anchored to tithi.
• Sthira: fixed rasi-dasha (Jaimini).
• Shoola: rasi-dasha with unequal periods (Jaimini).

Inside each system there are 5 levels of granularity: Maha (main period) → Antar (sub) → Pratyantar (sub-sub) → Sookshma (micro) → Prana (smallest, sub-daily).

Key endpoints

Endpoint	Credits	Purpose
/v1/vedic/dashas/vimshottari/maha	20	Vimshottari maha-dashas across 120 years
/v1/vedic/dashas/vimshottari/antar	20	Antar-dashas within current maha
/v1/vedic/dashas/vimshottari/pratyantar	20	Pratyantar (3rd nesting level)
/v1/vedic/dashas/vimshottari/sookshma	20	Sookshma (4th level)
/v1/vedic/dashas/vimshottari/prana	20	Prana (finest, sub-daily intervals)
/v1/vedic/dashas/yogini/maha	20	Yogini 36-year cycle
/v1/vedic/dashas/ashtottari/maha	20	Ashtottari 108-year cycle
/v1/vedic/dashas/kalachakra/maha	20	Cyclic Kalachakra
/v1/vedic/dashas/chara/maha	20	Chara rasi-dasha (Jaimini)
/v1/vedic/dashas/shodashottari/maha	20	Shodashottari 116-year cycle

Full list of all 50 endpoints - in the OpenAPI (tags Vedic / Dashas).

Example

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/dashas/vimshottari/maha \
  -H "X-Api-Key: aw_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "date": "1990-07-14",
    "time": "14:30:00",
    "timezoneOffset": 3,
    "latitude": 50.45,
    "longitude": 30.52,
    "ayanamsa": "lahiri"
  }'

Node.js

const r = await fetch('https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/dashas/vimshottari/maha', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'X-Api-Key': process.env.ASTROWAY_API_KEY!,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    date: '1990-07-14',
    time: '14:30:00',
    timezoneOffset: 3,
    latitude: 50.45,
    longitude: 30.52,
    ayanamsa: 'lahiri',
  }),
});
const { data } = await r.json();
// startDate/endDate are 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM' in the birth timezone, so they compare as text
const now = new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 16).replace('T', ' ');
const current = data.periods.find((p) => p.startDate <= now && now < p.endDate);
console.log(`Current maha: ${current.planetName} until ${current.endDate}`);

Python

import os, requests
from datetime import datetime

r = requests.post(
    'https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/dashas/vimshottari/maha',
    headers={'X-Api-Key': os.environ['ASTROWAY_API_KEY']},
    json={
        'date': '1990-07-14', 'time': '14:30:00', 'timezoneOffset': 3,
        'latitude': 50.45, 'longitude': 30.52, 'ayanamsa': 'lahiri',
    },
)
data = r.json()['data']
now = datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')
current = next(p for p in data['periods'] if p['startDate'] <= now < p['endDate'])
print(f"Current: {current['planetName']} until {current['endDate']}")

Sample response

{
  "system": "Vimshottari",
  "level": "maha",
  "ayanamsa": 23.724844,
  "moonSiderealLongitude": 345.332629,
  "nakshatra": {
    "number": 26,
    "name": "Uttara Bhadrapada",
    "ruler": "Saturn",
    "startDeg": 333.3333,
    "endDeg": 346.6667,
    "pada": 4
  },
  "initial": {
    "initialPlanet": 6,
    "initialPlanetName": "Saturn",
    "nakshatra": 26,
    "nakshatraName": "Uttara Bhadrapada",
    "pada": 4,
    "balanceYears": 1,
    "balanceMonths": 10,
    "balanceDays": 25,
    "elapsedYears": 17.098996
  },
  "periods": [
    { "planet": 6, "planetName": "Saturn", "startDate": "1990-07-14 14:29", "endDate": "1992-06-07 22:42", "durationYears": 1.901004 },
    { "planet": 2, "planetName": "Mercury", "startDate": "1992-06-07 22:42", "endDate": "2009-06-08 04:42", "durationYears": 17 },
    { "planet": 100, "planetName": "Ketu", "startDate": "2009-06-08 04:42", "endDate": "2016-06-07 22:42", "durationYears": 7 }
  ]
}

Accuracy & sources

• Canonical text: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS), chapters 46–52 - each dasha system is described separately.
• Reference implementation: PyJHora (Apache 2.0) - our cross-check for all 10 systems. Vimshottari/Yogini/Ashtottari/Kalachakra match PyJHora exactly; Sthira/Shoola have minor drift at transition timestamps due to differences in Jaimini sign-strength helpers.
• Ayanamsa: supported are lahiri (default, MoSh/IISc), raman, krishnamurti, fagan-bradley, yukteshwar, sassanian, j2000, aldebaran, galactic-center. Lahiri is the official Indian Ephemeris standard.
• Tropical fallback: all dashas use sidereal coordinates: if your key sends tropical: true we apply the ayanamsa offset internally.
• Audit: separate entry in /en/accuracy/ for each dasha system, with last-fix date and drift vs reference.

Caution

Jaimini dashas vs Parashara dashas. Chara/Sthira/Shoola belong to the Jaimini school - the algorithms differ fundamentally from Parashara (signs rule, not planets). If you’re building a classical jyotish app, use Vimshottari as your primary; treat others as supplementary overlays.

Related

• Panchang: daily Vedic almanac parameters (tithi, karana, yoga, nakshatra)
• Shadbala: six-fold planetary strength at the moment a dasha runs
• Vargas: divisional charts D1–D60 (Navamsha is critical for assessing the strength of a dasha lord)
• Accuracy: lineage, snapshot tests, cross-check against swetest + PyJHora
• Credits: full pricing table across all 50 dasha endpoints
• Authentication: how to obtain an aw_live_* key