Banaras Hindu University

"BHU" redirects here. For other uses, see BHU (disambiguation).
"Banaras University" and "Hindu University" redirect here. For other uses, see List of educational institutions in Varanasi.

Banaras Hindu University
Hindi: Kashi Hindu Vishwavidyalaya
Seal of the University
Other names
BHU
Former name
Central Hindu College
MottoIAST: Vidyayā'mr̥tamaśnute
Motto in English
"Knowledge imparts immortality"
TypePublic research university
Established4 February 1916; 108 years ago (1916-02-04)
Founders
Academic affiliations
Budget₹1,808.75 crore (US$220 million)[1]
ChancellorGiridhar Malaviya[2]
Vice-ChancellorSudhir K. Jain[3]
VisitorPresident of India
Students30,698[4]
Undergraduates15,746[4]
Postgraduates7,557[4]
4,555[4]
Location
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
,
India

25°16′04″N 82°59′21″E / 25.2677°N 82.9891°E / 25.2677; 82.9891
CampusUrban, 1,370 acres (550 ha)
LanguageHindi, English
AnthemKulgeet - Madhur Manohar
Colours    BHU Saffron, BHU Blue, BHU Grey/Silver[5]
MascotGoddess Saraswati
Websitebhu.ac.in

Banaras Hindu University(pronunciationⓘ) (BHU) (IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/) is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, which had been founded by future Indian Home Rule-league leader and theosophist, Annie Besant in 1898.[6][7] By 1911 Besant and her associates were marginalised on the governing board of the Central Hindu College by Madan Mohan Malviya and his associates, who preferred a more orthodox version of Hindusim to Besant's more theosophy-oriented Sanatana Dharma, for which she had written the text-books.[8] Besant had also become involved in founding the India Home Rule League with Bal Gangadhar Tilak, leaving the university to be established in 1916 by Malaviya with the support of the maharaja of Darbhanga Rameshwar Singh, the maharaja of Benares Prabhu Narayan Singh, and the lawyer Sunder Lal. With over 30,000 students, and 18,000 residing on campus, BHU is the largest residential university in Asia.[9][10] The university is one of the eight public institutions declared as an Institute of Eminence by the Government of India.[11][12] It is also one of the 12 institutions from India in BRICS Universities League, a consortium of leading research universities from BRICS countries.[13]

BHU has often been referred to by different names throughout the history and present. Some of the English names include Banaras University,[14][15] Benares Hindu University, and Hindu University.[16]

The university's main campus spread over 1,370 acres (5.5 km2), was built on land donated by the Kashi Naresh Prabhu Narayan Singh, the hereditary ruler of Banaras ("Kashi" being an alternative name for Banaras or Varanasi). The south campus, spread over 2,700 acres (11 km2) is built on land donated later by Maharaj Kumar Aditya Narayan Singh in Sunderpur,[17] hosts the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Agriculture Science Centre)[18] and is located in Barkachha in Mirzapur district, about 60 km (37 mi) from Varanasi.[19][20]

BHU is organized into six institutes, 14 faculties (streams) and about 140 departments. As of 2020, the total student enrolment at the university is 30,698[4][21] coming from 48 countries.[22][23] It has over 65 hostels for resident students. Several of its faculties and institutes include Arts, Social Sciences, Commerce, Management Studies, Science, Performing Arts, Law, Agricultural Science, Medical Science, and Environment and Sustainable Development along with departments of Linguistics, Journalism & Mass Communication, among others.[24] The university's engineering institute was designated as an Indian Institute of Technology in June 2012, and henceforth is Indian Institute of Technology (BHU).[25]

Centralised in 1916 through the Banaras Hindu University Act, Banaras Hindu University is India's first central university. BHU celebrated its centenary year in 2015–2016.[26][27]

  1. ^ Account and audit report 2021–22 (PDF) (Report). Baranas Hindu University. 28 October 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  2. ^ "Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi". www.bhu.ac.in. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Banaras university; Twitter". twitter.com. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e "University". www.ugc.ac.in. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Banaras Hindu University" (PDF). bhu.ac.in. Archived from the original on 12 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  6. ^ Van der Linden, B. (2022). "Hindu Nationalism and North Indian Music in the Global Age". In Ahmad, I.; Kang, J. (eds.). The National Form in the Global Age. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-85580-2. While ustads were thus more or less marginalized at Lucknow's Marris College, AIR and Paluskar's schools, they were, as expected expelled entirely from Benares Hindu University (BHU). Formerly known as Central Hindu College, BHU had been a centre for dissemination of Hindu nationalist ideas since its foundation in 1916. The Theosophist Annie Besant, who was actually the President of Indian National Congress in 1917–1918, had established Central Hindu College in 1898, and for a long time it was closely linked with the Theosophical movement. Theosophists generally played an important role in the making of Indian nationalism, especially because they propagated the 'spirituality' of the Hindu (and Buddhist) traditions as superior to Western 'materialistic' civilization.
  7. ^ Jaffe, Richard M. (2019). Seeking Sakyamuni: South Asia in the Formation of Modern Japanese Buddhism. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-39114-4. In Benares, Kawaguchi took up residence in the faculty residence hall at Central Hindu College (later Banares Hindu University) while studying Sanskrit there as well as at the Government Sanskrit College (a.k.a. Benares Sanskrit College; founded in 1791 (p. 84) ... Annie Besant and her Theosophical Society associates founded Central Hindu College in 1898 as part of her broader efforts to build a higher-education system in India that honored Indian traditions. Cultivating the rising tide of nationalism, Besant argued that government-run schools were denigrating Indian language, religion, and literature, turning Indians against their glorious culture. In order to preserve the sanatana Dharma (eternal Dharma, which was understood as "orthodox Hinduism"), Besant garnered the support of many wealthy Indians, including the Maharaja of Benares who augmented the original property holdings with additional land and buildings. At the time of the college's inception, each day began with a Hindu prayer, segregation of students by caste was honored, and religious education in nonsectarian Hinduism as portrayed in the school textbook Sanatana Dharma was emphasized. The founders' concession to modern education was including instruction in science and other subjects that were in tune with the times.(p. 87)
  8. ^ Jaffe, Richard M. (2019). Seeking Sakyamuni: South Asia in the Formation of Modern Japanese Buddhism. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-39114-4. Over the course of Kawaguchi's seven years in Benares, particularly as Annie Besant became enmeshed in the founding of the Order of the Rising Sun (later Order of the Star in East), which was centered on Jiddu Krishnamurti as the world messiah, Indian supporters sought to wrest control of the college from the Theosophists, fearing that Hindu education was being infused with a Theosophically tinged version of Christianity. By 1911, Madan Mohan Malaviya (1861–1946) and others promoting Hindu education were putting plans in place to forge a university that would "train teachers of religion for the preservation and promotion of the Sanatan Dharma which is inculcated by the Srutis, Smritis, and Puranas, and recognised by Varna-Ashram. In addition "the University was to be residential, students were to be admitted directly after the upanayan (sacred thread ceremony) and to observed the laws of Brahmacharya throughout their student career. At the time of the college's thirteenth-anniversary celebrations in December 1911, the Theosophists, including Besant, had lost control of the institution they had begun. Their approach to Hindu education, as expressed in Sanatana Dharma, was abandoned for the more orthodox Hinduism of Malaviya and his associates, who now controlled the governance of the school. By 1913, as Central Hindu College merged into the new Benares Hindu University, the Theosophists were left with but a nominal role in the institution's governance. (pp. 87–88)
  9. ^ "University at Buffalo, BHU sign exchange programme". Rediff News. 4 October 2007. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2007.
  10. ^ "Tradition meets modernity". India Today. 30 June 2016. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  11. ^ "Institutions | Government of India, Ministry of Education". 23 April 2021. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  12. ^ "Institution of Eminence: BHU to invite best professors of world, says VC". Hindustan Times. 7 September 2019. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  13. ^ "BRICS Network University". nu-brics.ru. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  14. ^ Asian Recorder. K. K. Thomas at Recorder Press. 1958. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  15. ^ Sabha, India Parliament Rajya (1960). Parliamentary Debates: Official Report. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  16. ^ Dar, S.L. (1966). History of the Banaras Hindu University (2007 Reprint ed.). Varanasi: Banaras Hindu University Press. pp. 237, 243. ISBN 8185305226.
  17. ^ "About the Campus". Krishi Vigyan Kendra, BHU. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  18. ^ "Rajiv Gandhi South Campus". Krishi Vigyan Kendra, BHU. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  19. ^ "Banaras Hindu University keen to set up its Center in Bihar". IANS. Biharprabha News. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  20. ^ "Bhu South Campus Stores Rainwater, Becomes Self-reliant In Water Needs". The Times of India. TNN. 17 March 2022. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  21. ^ "BHU apathy: How many women safety panels does varsity with 30,000 students has? Zero". DNA India. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  22. ^ "Submitted Institute Data for National Institute Ranking Framework - Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi" (PDF). NIRF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  23. ^ "Banaras Hindu University: All rounder : 2011 - India Today". indiatoday.intoday.in. 30 November 1999. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  24. ^ "UGC Fact Sheet". Archived from the original on 23 July 2018.
  25. ^ "IRMA - Home | Indian Institute of Technology (BHU)". iitbhu.ac.in. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  26. ^ "President Pranab Mukherjee to attend centenary year celebrations at Banaras Hindu University". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  27. ^ "IIT-BHU floats mega plans for 100 year celebrations". The Times of India. 29 September 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.