The 120-year cycle of planetary periods that Vedic astrology uses to time a life. It begins from the nakshatra the Moon was in at your birth, and each mahadasha is divided into nine antardashas. See which period you are in now, and when the next begins.
The place is used only to find the Moon's position; dasha itself does not depend on it. An uncertain birth time shifts every period by a few days at most, unless the Moon changed nakshatra that day.
Each nakshatra has a lord, and the lords run in a fixed order: Ketu 7 years, Venus 20, Sun 6, Moon 10, Mars 7, Rahu 18, Jupiter 16, Saturn 19, Mercury 17 — 120 in all. Your first mahadasha is that of your birth nakshatra's lord, and how much of it remains depends on how far through the nakshatra the Moon had travelled. Within each mahadasha the antardashas follow the same order, starting from the mahadasha lord, each lasting in proportion to its own years.
Your birth nakshatra · Dosha check · Planets today · Check your name