Identifying Vedic Asterisms - Software?

In ,
(Matrix Reloaded) wrote:
| Arjun Ray wrote in message . ..

| I'm having trouble finding a suitable program, from the huge selection
| of "planetarium" software out there, which will help me identify stars
| that could correspond to a set of rather ancient names found in Vedic
| texts. There is a strong tradition about these names, but no reliable
| evidence that what these names signify today are the same as what they
| did long ago.

| I have the identical problem, including the egyptian, mayan and chinese
| constellations. The sources seem lacking.

Indeed. It's difficult to separate hard archaeological and historical
evidence from the confident attributions in modern texts - which are
usually based on "information" from astrologers. Astrology is a huge
hindrance to historical investigation of ancient calendar systems.

| I don't even need a program, I need the (possibly authoritative) set
| of corelations. Here and there one finds a reference, but all in all,
| one seems lost...

Looking for an authoritative set is too much - the problem may not admit
of an unambiguous solution. The point is to test synchronic consistency
of theories. Too often, anachronistic reasoning shortcircuits the whole
process by blithely assuming that a reference in an ancient text must be
the same as one that is found in a text dated even a millennium later.

This is of particular importance for the Vedic texts because of late
there have been fantastic theories claiming dates back in the Stone Age
for their Bronze Age civilization.