Overview
Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1916, it is regarded as one of the prominent universities in India. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, which had been founded by theosophist and Indian Home Rule leader Annie Besant in 1898.
By December 1911, Besant and the Theosophists had relinquished day-to-day control of the Central Hindu College to Madan Mohan Malaviya and others, who emphasised a more orthodox Hindu education. Five years later, Malaviya established the university with the support of the Maharaja of Darbhanga Rameshwar Singh, the Maharaja of Benares Prabhu Narayan Singh, and the lawyer Sunder Lal.
The university's main campus, spread over about 1,370 acres, was built on land donated by Prabhu Narayan Singh, the hereditary ruler of Benares State. The south campus, spread over about 2,700 acres, was built on land later donated by Aditya Narayan Singh in Sunderpur. It hosts the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Agriculture Science Centre) and is located in Barkachha in Mirzapur district, around 60 km from Varanasi. BHU is described as the largest residential university in Asia, with a substantial proportion of its students residing on campus across more than 65 hostels.
BHU is organised into six institutes, 14 faculties and about 140 departments, covering disciplines such as Arts, Social Sciences, Science, Commerce, Law, Education, Performing Arts, Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vijnan, and professional streams in Engineering, Medical Sciences, Management, and Agricultural Sciences. As of 2020, total student enrolment was 30,698, drawn from 48 countries. The university has been declared an Institute of Eminence by the Government of India and is among the Indian institutions participating in the BRICS Universities League, a consortium of leading research universities from BRICS countries.
References
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article