Dashaphal Darpan

Dr. Sureshchandra Mishra mentions in the foreword of the book that any book on Vimshottari Dasha can only be written on the basis of Brihat Parashara Hora Shashtra and LaghuParashari. Therefore to be able to learn to apply Vimshottari Dasha to a janma kundali i.e. Vedic horoscope, one must learn, understand and comprehend BPHS completely.

It has not been easy for astrologers throughout the centuries as there have been many versions of BPHS floating around and they do not always agree with each other. This is because during the process, some of the shlokas were lost, some were modified and many a times we have the treatise being confused as actual text. I have two versions of BPHS, by two different authors/editors and find it difficult to move between.

This books deals with Vimshottari dasha and is a lucid read. It is in Hindi and translates the original Sanskrit shlokas into Hindi quite well. If you have studied Sanskrit in CBSE till Class X and still remember the basic grammar, you can make a lot of sense of the translation. Dr. Mishra has done a wonderful job of collating the information in chapters, sub-chapters and topics of interest. If you purchase this book and go through it once, chances are that you will not put it in the backshelf and will continue to use it as a reference guide.

I will take an example of chapters dedicated to Surya dasha. The subject matter talks about effects of Surya dasha when Sun is exalted, debilitated, associated with planets in various states (avasthas). It is also explained well how bhuktis of various planets operate within Sun’s mahadasha.

There are few chapters dedicated to further granular dasha types – Prayantardasha, Sukshamadasha and Pranadasha. Not a lot of subject matter is devoted to these minor dashas as the reader is expected to gain knowledge looking at Mahadahsa and Antardasha and apply this knowledge further.

I would recommend this book strongly to anyone who wishes to learn Vedic Astrology and has Hindi as a mother tongue.