Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University is a faculty in the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India which offers courses in Humanities along with various professional and vocational courses except social sciences. It was founded in 1898 and is the oldest and largest faculty in the University. Faculty of Arts was formerly known as the Central Hindu College (1898–1916). 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 Annie Besant and became the main centre and the core of the Banaras Hindu University in 1916 founded by Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya. The Faculty of Arts is often called the mother faculty of the University, many other faculties and departments of the university grew around it.

The faculty was bifurcated to create the Faculty of Social Sciences in 1971, and coeducational classes were started in the two faculties in 2017. Old CHC Building (Panoramic View)

Organization Faculty of Vusual 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 (UG), advanced postgraduate diploma, postgraduate degree (PG) and Doctorate in following three categoriesHistory, Culture and Philosophy; Language and Literature; and Professional and Vocational courses.

Departments The faculty houses departments of various languages such as those of English, Bengali, French, Hindi, Sanskrit, Telugu, German, Marathi, Arabic, Urdu, Persian other foreign languages, other Indian languages; it also houses departments of linguistics, archaeology, Pali & Buddhism, philosophy and religion, physical education, journalism, history of art, and library science. The faculty has niche departments such as Bhojpuri Adhyayan Kendra (), Bharat Adhyayan Kendra (), and Malaviya Moolya Anusheelan Kendra ().

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of the faculty of arts include:

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 awardeeBaldev Upadhyaya Felicitation Volume, (Ed.) G.C. Tripathi, Journal of the Ganganath Jha, Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Allahabad, 1983. 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 Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sanskrit Literature (2003), pp. 427–429 Robert M. Pirsig MA Eastern Philosophy & culture 1954 American writer and philosopher – Umanath Singh BA, MA Hindi, Sanskrit & History 1956, 1958 Indian professor 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 -

See also List of educational institutions in Varanasi

References

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