Banaras Hindu University, the annals of higher education of this country, was founded by one of the noblest sons of the soil, Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya on Vasant Panchami day, February 4, 1916. The foundation stone of the university was laid by H.E. Charles Baron Hardinge, the then Governor-General and Viceroy of India. Sir Sunder Lal was the first Vice-Chancellor, and the Maharaja of Mysore was the first Chancellor of this University.

The university has made a major contribution in the fields of humanities and social sciences by integrating the Indian traditions and philosophy with the western rationale and liberal thought. Distinguished scholars in various fields were called on to set up a glorious tradition of extending the frontiers of knowledge in their respective disciplines. Besides academic input in the form of teaching and research, the faculty endeavored to imbibe the spirit of patriotism, self sacrifice and idealism of Malviyaji in their life style.

The University has been able to establish sophisticated instrumentation centres, well equipped laboratories and manpower capabilities in the area of physical, chemical and life sciences. The departments of Physics, Botany, and Zoology have acquired the status of center for advanced studies. The department of earth sciences, namely Geology, Geophysics and Geography have identified themselves as leaders in the fields of hydrocarbon explorations, ocean evolution, prospects of metallic weather forecasting and ground water explorations.

A Unique feature of the University is the Bharat Kala Bhawan that has its origin to the Bharat Kala Parishad founded by Rai Krishna Das in 1930. It has more than ninety thousand art objects including paintings and sculptures dating 2nd century B.C. to 12 th century A.D. It also has a distinctive collection of textiles, coins, terracotas and some rare manuscripts. It ranks next only to the national museum and is the only university museum in India.

The Banaras Hindu University (BHU), as it stands today, constitute a unique educational complex of three institutes, 14 faculties (colleges) and 127 departments. Five colleges of the city are also affiliated with the university. BHU has chain support services catering to educational requirements of 14000 students with the help of 1359 faculty members and 7622 non-teaching employees.