Varanasi

Meeting people at BHU

BHU is a 1,370-acre residential university in Varanasi, founded in 1916 by Madan Mohan Malaviya, with about 30,000 students, 66 hostels and a campus that often gets called Asia's largest residential university. Life here mixes lecture halls, temple lawns and evenings at the ghats a short ride away.

The story of BHU

Madan Mohan Malaviya led the campaign for a national university in Banaras, backed by the Maharajas of Darbhanga and Benares, lawyer Sunder Lal and theosophist Annie Besant, whose Central Hindu College, founded in 1898, became the university's nucleus. The Benares Hindu University Act was passed on 1 October 1915.

Viceroy Lord Hardinge laid the foundation stone on Vasant Panchami, 4 February 1916, and Sunder Lal became the first Vice-Chancellor. Classes began at Central Hindu School while the main campus, on land donated by the Maharaja of Benares, was built. Philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan later served as Vice-Chancellor before becoming President of India.

Over the next century BHU grew into six institutes, 14 faculties and about 140 departments, including the Institute of Medical Sciences and what became IIT (BHU). The Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Library, completed in 1941, holds over 1.3 million volumes, and NIRF 2024 ranked BHU fifth among Indian universities.

What the campus is like socially

BHU is a town of its own. Wide tree-lined roads link faculties, hostels, a hospital, museums and the 252-foot Shri Vishwanath temple at the centre of campus, and cycling or walking between them is part of daily life. With 66 hostels, hostel identity is strong, and inter-hostel and inter-faculty contests run all year.

Banaras itself is the other half of student life. Lanka, the busy market at the main gate, is where students grab chai and snacks, and the ghats, especially Assi, are a short ride away for evening walks, music and long conversations by the Ganga. The mix of medicine, engineering, arts, science, agriculture and performing arts students makes the campus unusually varied.

Traditions every BHUian knows

• Vasant Panchami Foundation Day: BHU marks its founding on Vasant Panchami, also Saraswati Puja, so the university calendar is tied to the goddess of learning.
• Spandan: The university's inter-faculty cultural festival, held after Vasant Panchami, with literature, painting, music, dance, drama and mimicry contests.
• Swadeshi convocation dress: BHU pioneered Indian convocation dress instead of Western gowns, a tradition still followed.
• Malaviya Jayanti flower show: A flower exhibition held every 25 December, Malaviya's birthday, since 1971.
• Festival nights: Holi Milan, Diwali diyas across campus and Dev Deepawali by the ghats are big shared moments for hostel students.

Campus lore and insider spots

• Robert Pirsig's Banaras chapter: The author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance studied philosophy at BHU before writing his famous book.
• Malaviya the fundraiser: Campus legend celebrates how Malaviya travelled across India asking princes and ordinary donors alike to fund the university.
• Bhatnagar's kulgeet: The university anthem was composed by scientist Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, better known as the first Director-General of India's CSIR.
• Asia's largest residential university: Few students can quote the exact acreage, but everyone repeats the claim with pride.

How to find your people here

At BHU, joining a department society or a campus-wide club in your first weeks is the fastest way to build a real circle.

Fests and societies at BHU

Signature fests

• Spandan

Notable societies

• Bharat Kala Bhavan museum society
• Institute cultural committees (Aakanksha, Srishti, Elixir)

Societies worth knowing at BHU

• Faculty of Performing Arts: Trains students in Hindustani music, instruments and dance, and its performances are some of the best on campus.
• Bharat Kala Bhavan: The campus museum, founded in 1920, holds over 100,000 artefacts and is a favourite for art and history students.
• Hostel and faculty teams: Sports, debate and cultural teams compete in inter-faculty and inter-hostel meets through the year.
• IIT (BHU) fests: Kashiyatra and Technex, run by IIT (BHU) students on the shared campus, bring big crowds and inter-college competitions.

Careers, internships and placements

BHU's career paths depend heavily on the institute. Medical students move into residencies and PG seats, management students go through the IMS placement cycle, and IIT (BHU) runs its own engineering placements.

Across arts, science, commerce and law, civil services and state service exams are a major track, along with research, NET and teaching. Low living costs and a big library make BHU a popular base for long exam preparation.

Notable alumni

• Bhupen Hazarika: Singer, poet and filmmaker, Bharat Ratna recipient, who completed his BA and MA at BHU in the 1940s.
• C. N. R. Rao: Bharat Ratna chemist and former scientific adviser to the Prime Minister, MSc 1953.
• Jayant Narlikar: Theoretical physicist and Padma Vibhushan awardee, BSc 1957.
• B. P. Koirala: Former Prime Minister of Nepal, who graduated from BHU in 1934.
• Sushila Karki: Served as Nepal's interim Prime Minister, after an MA in Political Science at BHU in 1975.
• Mannu Bhandari: Acclaimed Hindi writer, MA 1953.
• Harivansh Rai Bachchan: Celebrated Hindi poet.

Rivalries and eternal debates

BHU and AMU, two great central universities founded within a few years of each other, are compared endlessly on rankings, campuses and hostel food. Then there is BHU versus DU, a choice many CUET students weigh: Delhi's internships and metro life versus BHU's huge campus, lower costs and Banaras evenings. Inside the gates, faculty and hostel pride fuel their own friendly feuds.

What BHU is talking about now

CUET has made BHU a truly national choice, bringing undergraduates from every state to Varanasi, and campus life increasingly spills onto student Instagram, from hostel festivals to evenings at the ghats.

Meeting people at BHU by interest

A lot of friendships here form around a shared interest rather than a class or a hostel wing. If you are into art and sketching, running, reading and book clubs, food and cafe hopping, and music and jamming, those pages cover where that scene actually happens in India and how to find people near you who are into the same thing.

Colleges nearby

BHU sits close to IIT-BHU, all part of the same Varanasi student scene. Cross-college friendships often start at inter-college fests, hackathons, or shared-interest communities rather than in class.

Similar campuses across India

If you are looking beyond your own campus, students at BMS College of Engineering, Chandigarh University, Chennai Mathematical Institute, and Chitkara University share a similar campus culture, and Zyber works the same way at each: showing you verified people nearby who match on interest, intent, or timing.

Zyber on campus

Zyber is built for meeting people nearby in real time, with verified profiles only. At BHU, that means showing you people near you who share your interests or your drive, whether or not you overlap on a class or a society.

New to BHU? Start here

If you are just starting out, these freshers guides are written for exactly this moment: first week of college checklist, how to choose societies in college, making friends beyond your branch, and internship in first year.

the freshers guide, the Meet People pillar, or read what Zyber is.