Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia is one of the fainter constellations. This is a constellation absent in Vedic scripts, although it has been reimagined and named Sharmishtha by a 19th-century Indian polymath, and tied to an epic drama from the Mahabharata.

Finding It 

While the Big Dipper’s outer bowl stars (Merak and Dubhe) serve as the pointers to Polaris, continuing that line straight across the pole will miss Cassiopeia completely (it points toward Cepheus and Pegasus).

To draw an accurate line straight into Cassiopeia, use the handle of the Big Dipper: 

• Locate Alioth (the handle star closest to the bowl / Angiras)
• Trace a straight line from Alioth through Polaris.
• Continue that line across the celestial pole for an equal distance, and we will hit the exact middle peak of Cassiopeia.

The Western View: The Vain Queen on Her Throne

In Greek mythology, Cassiopeia was the queen of Aethiopia, wife of King Cepheus, and mother of Princess Andromeda. 

The Legend: Queen Cassiopeia boasted that her beauty—and that of her daughter—surpassed that of the Nereids (sea nymphs). Offended by her hubris, the sea god Poseidon dispatched the sea monster Cetus to lay waste to her coastal kingdom. To appease the monster, Andromeda was chained to a rocky cliff as a sacrifice, only to be dramatically rescued by the hero Perseus. 

The Cosmic Punishment: As a warning against arrogance, the gods placed Cassiopeia in the heavens bound to her throne. Because she is circumpolar, the heavens rotate her upside down for half the night—an eternal, undignified celestial tumble.

The Indian Perspective

I have not been able to find any mention of Vedic literature which mentions this constellation. However, a recent depiction of Cassiopeia exists. In 1842, Balshastri Jambhekar—a scholar, mathematician, and editor of the educational journal Digdarshan—sought to teach modern spherical astronomy and Western constellations to Indian students. Recognizing that memorizing Greek mythological genealogies felt alien, he mapped the Greek "Royal Family" constellations onto a famous epic from the Mahabharata (Adi Parva) and the Bhagavata Purana.

Lineage to The Pandavas