Tithi Ashtottari Dasa Tutorial

December 14, 2002

Om Sreem Suragurave Brihaspataye Namah

Namaste friends,

Tithi Ashtottari dasa is a special dasa that is used along with Tithi Pravesha charts (annual soli-lunar return charts). It has been a secret until recently and was revealed for the first time at SJC's USA seminars this summer. Tithi Ashtottari dasa was covered in detail in the Tithi Pravesha class at Ukiah. The CD's of this one-day long class are available for buying on the SJC website (www..org).

Unfortunately these CD's may be too expensive for some of you. My goal has always been to keep the knowledge accessible to as many sincere students as possible, without requiring anything in return.

In that spirit, I want to write about Tithi Ashtottari dasa for the sake of students who could not buy the CD's. This knowledge is an important gift from the parampara. Once it ceases to be a secret, it has to make its way to the public domain where everybody can access it, just like Narayana dasa, and not be limited to some CD's. Mark my words: Three years from now, Tithi Ashtottari dasa will become as popular as Narayana dasa today is and many people will be using the TP system and TA dasa.

This tutorial contains new examples in addition to the examples given at Ukiah. So even those who attended the seminar and those who bought the CD's may want to check this out.

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Tithi Ashtottari Dasa Tutorial

This knowledge comes from a tradition from Orissa, India that traces itself back to Sri Achyuta Dasa, one of the pancha sakhas (five associates) of Lord Chaitanya. The knowledge of this tradition is being generously shared with the world today by Pt. Sanjay Rath and his students. Due to the blessings of the tradition, Sri Achyuta and Pt. Rath, this knowledge was shared by me at Ukiah with the attendees of the SJC-USA seminar and is now being shared with a larger audience for the benefit of the Jyotish world.

This small work of mine is humbly dedicated to Sri Venkatesa, author of "Sarvartha Chintamani", in whose name SJC held a conference in Hyderabad, India recently, which I had to miss unfortunately.

Tithi Pravesha System

For the basics of the Tithi Pravesha system, please read the initial article by Pt. Sanjay Rath and me in the May 2002 issue of "Jyotish Digest" magazine. You can read this article on the internet at

http://www..org/digest/may02/020505.htm

Tithi Ashtottari Dasa

Tithi Ashtottari (TA) dasa is a variation of Ashtottari dasa. It can be used in natal charts also, but its main use is in Tithi Pravesha (TP) charts, i.e. annual soli-lunar return charts.

Dasa Order and Lengths

Just like in Ashtottari dasa, dasas in TA dasa go in the following order:

Sun: 6 years

Moon: 15 years

Mars: 8 years

Mercury: 17 years

Saturn: 10 years

Jupiter: 19 years

Rahu: 12 years

Venus: 21 years

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TOTAL: 108 years

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First Dasa

First dasa is decided based on the tithi (lunar day) of the chart. Find the tithi running and its lord as per Kalachakra. The following table gives the lords.

Pratipat/Navami – Sun

Dwitiya/Dasami – Moon Tritiya/Ekadasi – Mars

Chaturthi/Dwadasi – Mercury Panchami/Trayodasi – Jupiter

Shashthi/Chaturdasi – Venus Saptami/Pournimasya – Saturn

Ashtami/Amavasya – Rahu

Suppose somebody was born on Krishna Dwadasi tithi (K12). Looking at the table above, Dwadasi is ruled by Mercury. So first dasa will be Mercury's. Next will be Saturn's dasa of 10 years (see the table under "dasa order and lengths" above). Next will be Jupiter's dasa of 19 years. And so on.

First Dasa Remainder

Only a portion of the first dasa will remain at birth, like in Vimsottari dasa. The fraction remaining at birth is decided based on the tithi rather than nakshatra.

Find the fraction of the tithi left at birth. Suppose somebody was born with 25% of Krishna Dwadasi tithi left (i.e. 75% of the tithi was over by birth). Then the fraction of remaining dasa is 25%, i.e. 0.25. So Mercury dasa remaining at birth is 17x0.25 = 4.25 years, i.e. 4 years 3 months. After 4 years 3 months of initial Mercury dasa, 10 years of Saturn dasa will come and then 19 years of Jupiter dasa will come and so on.

Compression in Annual Charts

TA dasa has to be compressed to the duration of an annual chart when using with annual TP charts. Suppose a chart is valid for 324 days (hypothetically). As 108 years have to be compressed to 324 days, each years is equivalent to 324/108 = 3 days. So we get the following table:

Sun: 18 days

Moon: 45 days

Mars: 24 days

Mercury: 51 days

Saturn: 30 days

Jupiter: 57 days

Rahu: 36 days

Venus: 63 days

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TOTAL: 324 days

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However, if the time from a particular year's Tithi Pravesha to the next year's Tithi Pravesha is 354 or 384 days (which are the common lengths), the calculations become messier. But the principles are the same.

Antardasas

Antardasas start from the planet after dasa lord and go in the order of dasas. For example, in Saturn dasa, the first antardasa will be that of Jupiter. Antardasas will go as Jupiter, Rahu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury and Saturn. Always the last antardasa will belong to the dasa lord.

Antardasa lengths will be proportional to dasa lengths. If you divide a dasa into 108 parts, 6 parts will be Sun antardasa, 15 parts will be Moon antardasa, 8 parts will be Mars antardasa and so on.

For example, Rahu dasa is for 12 years, Venus dasa is for 21 years, and, Saturn dasa is for 10 years. So Venus antardasa in Rahu dasa will be for 12x21/108 years and Saturn antardasa is Rahu dasa will be fore 12x10/108 years.

Examples

Example 1: Pt. Rath and USA Seminars

Pt. Sanjay Rath's natal chart data is as follows:

August 7, 1963Time: 21:15:40Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 83 E 58' 00"Latitude: 21 N 27' 00"Lunar Year: ShobhanaLunar Month: SravanaTithi: Krishna Tritiya (59.04% left)

His 2002-03 annual TP chart is cast for the following data:

July 27, 2002Time: 2:41:35Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 83 E 58' 00"Latitude: 21 N 27' 00"Lunar Year: ChitrabhanuLunar Month: AshadhaTithi: Krishna Tritiya (59.04% left)

+--------------+| |HL Gk |Ra Md |As Sa || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Mo | |Su Ma || | |Me Ju || | | || | | || | | ||-----------| Rasi |-----------|| | |Ve AL || | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||GL |Ke | | || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------++--------------+|Ve | | |Ma || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Su Mo | |GL AL || | | || | | || | | || | Siddhamsa | ||-----------| |-----------|| | D-24 |Me Sa || | |Md || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Ra Ke |Gk |Ju |As HL || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------+If you cast a chart for the data above, you will see that the rasi chart has Gemini rising. Lagna lord Mercury joins exalted Jupiter in the 2nd house of speech. In D-10 (activities), Mercury is in the 3rd house of communication, aspected by Jupiter. In D-24 (knowledge), Virgo lagna has a subha kartari (auspicious scissors) from Mercury and Jupiter. Jupiter is in the 2nd house of speech and JyotirVidya. Lagna and 10th lord Mercury is in the 12th house of giving. So we can right away conclude that "Mercury dasa Jupiter antardasa" will be an important period from the point of view of giving out astrological knowledge and speaking on astrology. Let us find out when it comes.

The next year's TP chart comes on August 14, 2003. So the length of the year is 383 days (July 27, 2002 to Aug 14, 2003). Each year is compressed to 383/108 = 3.5463 days.

Because the tithi is Tritiya ruled by Mars, first dasa is of Mars. Mars dasa is of 8 years. After compression, it is for 8 x 3.5463 = 28.3704 days. Because only 59.04% of the tithi is left, only 28.3704x0.5904 = 16.75 days is left. So Mars dasa ends on August 13.

Then Mercury dasa starts. Mercury dasa is of 17 years. After compression, it is 17x3.5463 = 60.2871 days.

Antardasas in Mercury dasa go as Saturn, Jupiter, Rahu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars and Mercury. First Saturn antardasa will be 10/108 of the dasa. So its length is 60.2871x10/108 = 5.58 days. It will end on August 19.

Jupiter antardasa starts then. It runs for 60.2871x19/108 = 10.6 days. So it runs from August 19 to August 29. It was exactly during this period that the wonderful sessions at the Ukiah seminar took place!

Example 2: Going abroad

Natal chart data of a person who left his motherland on November 9/10, 1994:

April 4, 1970Time: 17:47:20Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 81 E 08' 00"Latitude: 16 N 10' 00"Lunar Year: SaumyaLunar Month: PhalgunaTithi: Krishna Chaturdasi (85.98% left)

Though the native went to USA in 1991 and returned to India in 1993 with the intention of settling down in India, he had to leave India again on November 9/10, 1994. He has been living abroad since then.

April 9, 1994Time: 4:47:05Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 81 E 08' 00"Latitude: 16 N 10' 00"Lunar Year: SreemukhaLunar Month: PhalgunaTithi: Krishna Chaturdasi (85.98% left)

+--------------+|As Su |Ve |Ke AL | ||Mo Ma | | | ||Me | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Sa HL | | || | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------| Rasi |-----------|| | | || | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||GL Md |Ra |JuR | ||Gk | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------+ You can cast a chart for the above data and see that the 12th house Aquarius is occupied by its lord Saturn in strength. In addition, co-lord of the 12th house Rahu is in the 9th house (watery Scorpio). He is within 14 arc-min from Jalapatana Sahamam (sahamam = significant point in the zodiac, jalapatana = crossing ocean, i.e. going abroad).

Saturn who is strongly placed in the 12th house of leaving motherland in the rasi chart is in the 3rd house of travel in D-4 and shows travelling to a foreign country. Let us see when Saturn dasa starts.

The tithi of the chart is Chaturdasi ruled by Venus. Venus dasa is for 21 years. However, only 85.98% is left. So the dasa is for 21 x 0.8598 = 18.0558 years. So Saturn dasa starts after 18.0558 + 6 + 15 + 8 + 17 = 64.0558 years.

As the next annual TP chart comes on March 29, 1995, the length of this year is 354 days. Each year is compressed to 354/108 = 3.2778 days.

So Saturn dasa starts after 64.0558 x 3.2778 = 209.96 days. Adding 210 days (7 months) to April 9, 1994, we get November 8, 1994.

Saturn dasa of 32 days started on November 8, 1994. The native left India on November 9/10, 1994. As Jupiter is in the 9th house from Saturn in rasi and in the 12th house from Saturn in D-4, Jupiter antardasa in Saturn dasa gave the result.

Example 3: Vehicular Accident

The native of example 2 had a vehicular accident on the evening of December 5, 1996 (December 6, 1996 at his birthplace in India). The annual TP chart data is given below:

March 17, 1996Time: 23:51:34Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 81 E 08' 00"Latitude: 16 N 10' 00"Lunar Year: YuvaLunar Month: PhalgunaTithi: Krishna Chaturdasi (85.98% left)

+--------------+| | |Md |AL || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Mo Ve | |HL || | | || | | || | | || | Shodasamsa | ||-----------| |-----------||Su Sa | D-16 |As Me ||Ra Ke | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Ma |GL Gk |Ju | || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------+One can calculate and verify that Saturn antardasa in Saturn dasa ran during December 5-9, 1996 (verify).

In D-16 (vehicles), Leo rises. Lagna lord Sun is badly afflicted in the 6th house of accidents by 6th lord Saturn and nodes. No wonder Saturn gave an accident.

Example 4: Academic Distinction

The native of the last two examples stood first in his state in India in higher secondary school examinations with the record score of the decade on May 28, 1987. The annual TP data of 1987-88 is given below:

March 28, 1987Time: 0:31:35Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 81 E 08' 00"Latitude: 16 N 10' 00"Lunar Year: KshayaLunar Month: PhalgunaTithi: Krishna Chaturdasi (85.98% left)

+--------------+|Su Ju | |Ma | ||Ra AL | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Mo Me | | ||Ve | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------| Rasi |-----------||GL | | || | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||As Md |Sa | |Ke HL ||Gk | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------+

+--------------+|As HL |Ju Sa |Su AL |GL || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------|| | |Ma Md || | | || | | || | | || | Siddhamsa | ||-----------| |-----------|| | D-24 |Me || | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Mo Ve |Gk | |Ra Ke || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------+

In the rasi chart, lagna and hora lord Jupiter is in own sign in the 4th house (Pisces). He has a close raja yoga with the 9th lord Sun in the 4th house. The two planets are apart by less than 34 arc-min! This shows fortune (9th) in the matter of education (4th) and some good event in education. As Sun wins in the graha yuddha between the raja yoga giving planets, he should give the result. In D-24 (education), he is the 6th lord in 3rd giving viparita raja yoga (VRY) and occupies A5 (arudha of 5th house - awards, recognition, success etc).

Venus dasa is of 21 years. Here only 85.98% is left. So Venus dasa is of 18.0558 years. As the chart is valid for 353 days, we should compress 108 years to 353 days. So each year is compressed to 353/108 = 3.2685 days. So Venus dasa left at the beginning of the annual chart is 18.0558 x 3.2685 = 59 days. Adding 59 days to March 28, 1987, we get May 27, 1987. Sun dasa lasts for 6x3.2685 = 19.6 days.

The 20-day dasa of Sun that started on May 27, 1987 brought the academic distinction. The results were announced on the evening of May 28, 1987. It fits perfectly.

Example 5: Job after a long hiatus

Birthdata of a software engineer who stopped working to take care of her young kids is given below:

September 12, 1971Time: 8:26:20Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 80 E 23' 00"Latitude: 16 N 13' 00"

Lunar Year: Virodha-kritLunar Month: BhadrapadaTithi: Krishna Ashtami (13.04% left)

After a hiatus of 4 years, this lady started working again on December 28, 1999. The annual TP chart data for 1999-2000 is given below:

September 3, 1999Time: 11:50:32Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 80 E 23' 00"Latitude: 16 N 13' 00"Lunar Year: PramathiLunar Month: SravanaTithi: Krishna Ashtami (13.04% left)

+--------------+| | | |HL || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Ke | |Mo JuR || | | || | | || | | || | Dasamsa | ||-----------| |-----------||Su | D-10 |Ra Gk || | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Md AL |Me VeR |As GL |Ma || |SaR | | || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------+In the D-10 chart, Libra rises and the 10th house Cancer contains Moon and exalted Jupiter. Cancer is quite strong in ashtakavarga with 34 rekhas and Moon and Jupiter have 6 rekhas each. Thus the 10th house is quite strong. Jupiter is the lord of the 3rd house of boldness and the 6th house of service. Moon is the lord of the 10th house of activities. Their combination in the 10th house is good for career and was good enough to restart her career after a long hiatus!

Now let us time the event. Out of Jupiter and Moon, Moon is stronger than Jupiter in shadbala and he will end up giving the result. You can make the calculations and verify that Moon dasa ran from Dec 5, 1999 to Jan 22, 2000. In particular, Jupiter antardasa in Moon dasa ran from Dec 21 to Dec 29. This is exactly the antardasa that restarted her career!

In fact, she lost her job in a few months and joined another job on May 17, 2000, in which she stayed for a longer time. One can calculate TA dasa and verify that Jupiter dasa started on May 15, 2000. While Moon dasa gave one job, Jupiter dasa gave another job - a better job.

Example 6: Mother's Death

The natal chart data of India's Late Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi is given below:

August 20, 1944Time: 7:12:00Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 72 E 49' 00"Latitude: 18 N 58' 00"Lunar Year: TaranaLunar Month: BhadrapadaTithi: Sukla Dwitiya (88.90% left)

On October 31, 1984, his mother Mrs. Indira Gandhi was assassinated. Annual TP chart data for 1984-85 is given below:

August 27, 1984Time: 23:24:38Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 72 E 49' 00"Latitude: 18 N 58' 00"Lunar Year: RaktaakshaLunar Month: BhadrapadaTithi: Sukla Dwitiya (88.90% left)

+--------------+|Ma JuR |Gk |Mo Sa |As || | |HL | || | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Ke | | || | | || | | || | | || | Dwadasamsa | ||-----------| |-----------||MeR GL | D-12 |Ra AL || | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Su | |Md |Ve || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------+

In the D-12 chart, Gemini rises. The 4th house Virgo shows mother. Taking Virgo as lagna, we see that the 7th and 8th lords conjoin in the 7th house. This combination shows mother's death. Out of Mars and Jupiter, Mars has higher shadbala and he ends up giving the result. Readers may verify that the TA dasa of Mars runs from October 14, 1984 to November 11, 1984. This was the dasa that killed his mother.

Example 7: Job Loss

The following natal chart data belongs to a financial officer who lost his job on August 12, 2002:

March 7, 1964Time: 23:48:00Time Zone: 5:00:00 (West of GMT)Longitude: 77 W 02' 00"Latitude: 38 N 54' 00"Lunar Year: ShobhanaLunar Month: PhalgunaTithi: Krishna Dasami (87.99% left)

His 2002-03 annual TP chart data is as follows:

March 7, 2002Time: 11:56:24Time Zone: 5:00:00 (West of GMT)Longitude: 77 W 02' 00"Latitude: 38 N 54' 00"Lunar Year: VrishaLunar Month: MaghaTithi: Krishna Dasami (87.99% left)

+--------------+|Md |Mo Ke |Sa GL |Me || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------|| | |Ma || | | || | | || | | || | Dasamsa | ||-----------| |-----------|| | D-10 |As || | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||Ve |Gk |Ra AL |Su Ju || | | |HL || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------+

Saturn is a functional malefic for this D-10 chart. He afflicts the 10th house, showing a slowdown in career. From AL (status/image), Saturn occupies the 8th house, showing a fall in status. From A10 (formal job), Saturn is in badhaka sthana. Thus Saturn is the most likely planet to give job loss.

Readers may verify that Saturn antardasa in Saturn dasa runs during Aug 12-15, 2002. That was when the native lost his job.

Example 8: Job Loss and New Job

Let us consider a software engineer who lost his job in the 3rd week of December 2001. His natal chart data is as follows:

February 7, 1975Time: 0:12:13Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 80 E 27' 00"Latitude: 16 N 18' 00"Lunar Year: AnandaLunar Month: PushyaTithi: Krishna Ekadasi (7.43% left)

His 2001-02 annual TP chart data is as follows:

January 20, 2001Time: 6:55:10Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)Longitude: 80 E 27' 00"Latitude: 16 N 18' 00"Lunar Year: VikramaLunar Month: PushyaTithi: Krishna Ekadasi (7.43% left)

+--------------+|JuR AL |Me |Ma GL |Ke || | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------|| | | || | | || | | || | | || | Dasamsa | ||-----------| |-----------||SaR HL | D-10 | || | | || | | || | | || | | ||-----------+-----------------------+-----------||As Mo |Su Md | |Ve Gk ||Ra | | | || | | | || | | | || | | | |+--------------+

In D-10, Moon is the 8th lord and afflicts lagna with Rahu. This suggests a fall. Moreover, from A10 (arudha pada of 10th), Moon is badhaka. So he shows trouble to the formal job. Rahu antardasa in Moon dasa runs from Dec 18 to Dec 24, which was when he lost his job. He had known about it for a few weeks, but could not find another job.

The native was on an employment visa in USA and was planning to get married in February 2002. He approached the author in early November 2001 and enquired about his career. He was advised that the Moon dasa from Nov 22 would be very unfavorable for career and that he needed to be cautious. Later, he was given an advance lay-off notice and tried to find another job. He was unsuccessful for several weeks. He again approached the author in early January 2002 and asked for advice again. He was very concerned at this time, as his wedding in India was less than 2 months away and he was not even getting interview calls.

Though Moon is the 8th lord afflicting lagna, he is in a friendly sign in lagna. A planet well-placed in lagna can give a fresh start. So Moon antardasa in Moon dasa, which runs during Jan 5-13, 2002 has the potential to give a new job. The native was re-assured that he would find a job during Jan 5-13. Suddenly, he got an interview call, went for the interview and got a job offer on January 12, 2002. He got new visa in time, got married in India as planned and brought his wife to USA with him. Everything went smoothly, thanks also to the remedial measures he followed.

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Spend some time mastering this dasa. When used with the TP system, TA dasa is absolutely impeccable and gives uncanny results. Without this dasa, your knowledge of the TP system will not be complete. Try to master it through practice.

May Jupiter's light shine on us,Narasimha