The main book from which Jyotish (Vedic Astrology – "the science of light") comes is the "Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra". Translated that means "the great scripture of astrology by Parasara Muni". Parasara was a great sage who lived roughly around 5,000 years ago.
His great son, Veda Vyasadeva, wrote down most of the Vedic scriptures for the first time, bringing them from oral to written tradition. In any case, Parasara wrote down the astrological science, which prior to 5000 years ago was an orally passed science given by Brahma to the first created beings of this universal cycle.
You can purchase English translations of the Parasara Hora Sastra from JDR Ventures 918 Douglas Dr., Wooster, OH 44691, 216-263-1308.
The Parasara Hora Scripture teaches us how to construct the main chart and the divisional or harmonic charts.
There are a total of 16 charts for a person, the main one being called the "Rashi Chart" which means the basic chart of the planets and signs they are in with the rising sign noted.
Of great importance also is the primary harmonic chart which is called the "Navamsha Chart" which simply means the "chart made by dividing each sign into 9 parts".
Of also great importance is the Bhava Chakra, also known as Chalit Chakra, and these names mean "chart of houses".
In Vedic astrology, we generally use the whole signs as the houses. Whatever sign was rising, that whole sign becomes the first house, no matter where in the sign the rising angle actually falls. The next sign becomes the 2nd house, and so on up to 12 houses. It’s amazing how well this works despite it’s simplistic sounding nature.
