Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University
Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University is a faculty in the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India which offers courses in History, Culture, Philosophy, Languages, Literature along with various Professional and Vocational courses. It was founded in 1898 and is the oldest and largest faculty in the Banaras Hindu University. Faculty of Arts was formerly known as the Central Hindu College. In 1916, the Banaras Hindu University grew around the "nucleus" of the Faculty of Arts.
History
Formally known as Central Hindu College, The Faculty of Arts is the oldest and largest faculty in the Banaras Hindu University. It was founded in 1898 by Dr. Annie Besant and became the main centre and the core of Banaras Hindu University in 1916 by Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya. THe Faculty of Arts was "Mother Faculty" out of which many other faculties and departments of the university grew.Organization
Faculty of Arts' administrative head is a dean. The dean is responsible for all aspects of the Faculty's operations, including budgets, administration, planning, support services, faculty appointments, curricula and student affairs. The dean is appointed by and reports to the Vice-Chancellor of the university.There are 23 different departments in the Faculty of Arts that offer Certificate courses, Special courses, Undergraduate diploma, Undergraduate degree, advanced Postgraduate diploma, Postgraduate degree and Doctorate in following three categories;
- History, Culture and Philosophy
- Language and Literature
- Professional and Vocational courses
Departments
- Bhojpuri Adhayan Kendra
- Department of English
- Department of Bengali
- Department of French Studies
- Department of Hindi
- Department of German Studies
- Department of Marathi
- Department of Foreign Languages
- Department of Sanskrit
- Department of Linguistics
- Department of Telugu
- Department of AIHC & Archaeology
- Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies
- Department of Philosophy and Religion
- Department of Urdu
- Department of Physical Education
- Department of Indian Languages
- Department of Journalism & Mass Communication
- Department of Arabic
- Department of Library & Information Science
- Department of Persian
- Malaviya Moolya Anusheelan Kendra
- Department of History of Art
Notable alumni
| Name | Course | Subject | Year | Occupation | Remarks |
| Ahmad Hasan Dani | MA | Sanskrit | 1944 | Pakistani intellectual, archaeologist, historian & linguist | First Muslim graduate of BHU |
| Anant Sadashiv Altekar | – | – | – | Historian, archaeologist and numismatist | |
| Awadh Kishore Narain | MA | AIHC | 1947 | Indian historian, archaeologist & numismatist | |
| B. D. Lakshman | BA | – | – | Indo-Fijian politician, union leader & businessman | – |
| Baldev Upadhyaya | MA | Sanskrit | 1922 | Hindi & Sanskrit scholar, literary historian, essayist & critic | Padma Bhushan awardee |
| Colin Turnbull | MA | Indian Religion & Philosophy | 1947 | British-American anthropologist | |
| Kashinath Singh | PhD | Hindi | 1965 | Indian writer and scholar of Hindi language | Sahitya Akademi Awardee |
| Koenraad Elst | MA | Indology | 1992 | Orientalist and Indologist | – |
| Kuber Nath Rai | – | Hindi & Sanskrit | – | Hindi literature & Sanskrit scholar | – |
| Lal Mani Joshi | MA | Pali | 1964 | Buddhist scholar | – |
| Liu Anwu | MA | Hindi | 1958 | Chinese translator | – |
| Ma Su Krishnamurthy | MA | Hindi | 1962 | Kannada and Hindi writer | – |
| Manu Bhandari | MA | Hindi | 1953 | Hindi writer | – |
| Paragu | – | – | – | Burmese writer | – |
| Prithvi Nath Kaula | – | – | – | Library and Information Sciences specialist | Padma Shri awardee. |
| Rajbali Pandey | PhD | – | – | Indian writer and author | |
| Ram Krishna Singh | MA | English | 1972 | Reviewer, critic and contemporary poet | – |
| Rewa Prasad Dwivedi | MA | Sanskrit | 1962 | Sanskrit scholar and poet | |
| Robert M. Pirsig | MA | Eastern Philosophy & culture | 1954 | American writer and philosopher | – |
| Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena | - | - | - | Hindi writer, poet, columnist and playwright | – |
| Satya Vrat Shastri | PhD | Sanskrit | - | Sanskrit scholar, writer, grammarian and poet | – |
| Shankar Dayal Singh | BA | - | - | Indian Politician | – |
| Sita Ram Chaturvedi | - | - | - | Indian educator, dramatist and scholar of Hindi and Sanskrit language and literature | - |