The first teacher of the institution was Pandit Kashinath and the governor general sanctioned a budget of ₹20,000 per annum.

The first principal of Government Sanskrit College was John Muir, followed by James R. Ballantyne, Ralph T. H. Griffith, George Thibaut, Arthur Venis, Sir Ganganath Jha and Gopinath Kaviraj.

In 1894, the famous Saraswati Bhavan Granthalaya building was built, where thousands of manuscripts remain preserved today.

The director is responsible for overseeing all research activities within the university, and serves as its academic head.

Being a director, the renowned grammarian Vagish Shastri had made valuable contributions to the Sanskrit journal Sārasvatī Suṣamā and edited numerous books in the Sarasvati Bhavana Granthamala series.