MAṆḌŪKA DAŚĀ: Under this system the Daśā commences from the Ascendant or the 7th house whichever is stronger. If the sign of commencement is an odd sign the Daśās of 3 Movable signs, 3 Fixed signs and 3 Dual signs will be counted in the onwards order. They will be in the reverse order in the case of an even sign. In this system the Daśā years will be the same as in Sthira Daśā system (7 years for Movable signs, 8 years for Fixed signs and 9 years for Dual signs). In this system every Daśā is of the next 3rd sign (after leaving out two signs). For example after Aquarius Daśā comes the Daśā of Taurus after leaving out Pisces and Aries. It is for this reason that this system has been named as Maṇḍūka Daśā.

मण्डूक-पर्याय या त्रिकूटाख्य दशा में लग्न और सप्तम में जो राशि बलवान् हो, वहाँ से ओज राशि में क्रम से और सम राशि में उत्क्रम से दशा होती है। दशा के वर्ष स्थिर-दशा के समान ही होते हैं।