Dasha balance at birth
The dasha balance is how much of the first mahadasha is left at the moment of birth. It comes from how far the Moon has travelled through its nakshatra, and it fixes the dates of every later period.
Also known as: Balance of dasha, Bhogya dasha, balance of mahadasha at birth
You are rarely born at the very start of a mahadasha. The Moon takes about a day to cross each nakshatra (13°20′ of the zodiac), and that nakshatra’s lord rules your first mahadasha. The part the Moon has already crossed counts as dasha used up before birth (bhukta); the part still ahead is the balance (bhogya).
The arithmetic is simple. If the Moon has covered a quarter of Rohini, three quarters of the Moon’s 10-year mahadasha remain, so the balance is 7 years 6 months. Every later mahadasha, antardasha and pratyantardasha follows on from that date.
Because the Moon moves about half a degree an hour, the balance is sensitive to birth time. An error of one hour moves every dasha date by roughly three to ten months, depending on which planet’s period you were born in.
Kundlis may show the balance in years, months and days. Small differences between two reports usually come from the ayanamsha used or the length of year (365.25 or 360 days), not from a mistake.