Yogini dasha

The eight yoginis

The cycle always runs in the same order, and the periods add up to 36 years — 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8. A life of 70 years passes through about two cycles. Their names are those of the eight yoginis of the tradition and describe the character of the period (Mangala — auspicious, Sankata — difficulty), but a reading rests on the ruling planet and the houses it governs, not on the name.

Which yogini starts the life

Take the number of the Moon's nakshatra (Ashwini is 1, Revati 27), add 3 and divide by 8. The remainder gives the yogini in the table's order: 1 — Mangala, 2 — Pingala … 7 — Siddha; a remainder of 0 means the 8th, Sankata. Each yogini therefore owns three or four nakshatras, eight apart:

The first period is not whole: as in Vimshottari, only the part of the nakshatra the Moon has not yet crossed is left, in proportion to the yogini's years. The sub-periods (antardashas) divide each period in proportion to the yoginis' years: in a Dhanya period of three years the Dhanya sub-period lasts three months.

A worked example

The sample chart of the Shadbala article: 1 January 1990, 12:00, Delhi. The Moon is in Aquarius at 6°28′, in Dhanishta — the 23rd nakshatra: 23 + 3 = 26, remainder 2, Pingala. The Moon stands only 0°12′ before the end of the nakshatra, so Pingala has just 11 days left at birth. The engine gives the periods:

The first row begins before birth: only its last 11 days belong to this life. The first yogini is that fragile: had the Moon stood a quarter of a degree further on (about half an hour of the Moon's motion), in Shatabhisha, the life would begin with Dhanya instead. The cycle is continuous, so the later dates would move by only two to three weeks — but the name of the first period, and the sub-periods inside it, would change.

How it is used

Vimshottari is the main system of Jyotish and the most tested; Yogini is a second opinion. Some astrologers look for events that both systems agree on — the same planets and houses active in both — and treat that agreement as a stronger sign. Others use Yogini for finer timing, because its periods are short and its sub-periods can last days or weeks. Read a Yogini period as you would any dasha: by the ruling planet, its dignity (Shadbala), the houses it rules and the house it stands in. It does not replace the rest of the chart, and a single dasha never gives a date for an event.

What can go wrong

A wrong birth time (see a chart without an exact time) moves the Moon and so the whole cycle: the Moon crosses a nakshatra in about a day, so an error of a few hours usually keeps the yogini, but an error near a border changes it. Programs also differ in how they count the length of a year and in the sub-period arithmetic; dates can differ by days, and a larger gap means one of the programs divides the sub-periods equally instead of in proportion to the years. Compare with a second source before relying on a date.

Questions

See also

• Vimshottari dasha
• Antardasha
• Shadbala
• Birth chart without a birth time
• Dhanishta

Positions and tables: sidereal zodiac, Lahiri ayanamsha — the same as professional Jyotish astrologers use, and the same calculation as the charts in JyotiSoft. Updated 2026-10-14.