The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, which had been founded by theosophist and future Indian Home Rule leader Annie Besant in 1898.

[15] The university's main campus spread over 1,370 acres (5.5 km2), was built on land donated by Prabhu Narayan Singh, the hereditary ruler of Benares State.

The south campus, spread over 2,700 acres (11 km2) is built on land donated later by Aditya Narayan Singh in Sunderpur,[16] hosts the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Agriculture Science Centre)[17] and is located in Barkachha in Mirzapur district, about 60 km (37 mi) from Varanasi.

[27][28][29] At the 21st Conference of the Indian National Congress in Benares in December 1905, Malaviya publicly announced his intent to establish a university in Banaras.

-- Madan Mohan Malviya[30] Malaviya's plan evaluated whether to seek government recognition for the university or operate without its control.

Malaviya also considered the question of medium of instruction and decided to start with English given the prevalent environment, and gradually add Hindi and other Indian languages.

[36] On 22 March 1915, then Education Minister Harcourt Butler introduced the Benares Hindu University Bill in the Imperial Legislative Council.

[38] The foundation for the main campus of the university was laid by Lord Hardinge, the then Viceroy of India, on Vasant Panchami 4 February 1916.

[33][39] To promote the university's expansion, Malviya invited eminent guest speakers such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jagadish Chandra Bose, C. V. Raman, Prafulla Chandra Ray, Sam Higginbottom, Patrick Geddes, and Besant to deliver a series of what are now called The University Extension Lectures between 5–8 February 1916.

[39] Sunder Lal was appointed the first vice-chancellor, and the university began its academic session[40] the same month with classes initially held at the Central Hindu School in the Kamachha area, while the campus was being built on over 1,300 acres (5.3 km2) of land donated by the Kashi Naresh on the outskirts of the city.

[44] Banaras Hindu University's main campus is located on the southern edge of Varanasi, near the banks of the river Ganges.

Development of the main campus, spread over 1,370 acres (5.5 km2),[47][48] started in 1916 on land donated by the then Kashi Naresh Prabhu Narayan Singh.

It is situated inside the main campus of the university with over 100,000 holdings which include artifacts, paintings, philately, textiles, costumes, etc.

[56][57] The South Campus features a lecture complex, library, student hostels and faculty housing, besides administrative offices.

[61][63] Hostels of the university are named after several historically important figures such as Raja Baldev Das Jugal Kishore Birla, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rani Laxmibai and M.

The university's chief executive is the Vice-chancellor (as of December 2022, Sudhir K. Jain),[70] appointed by the president of India on the recommendations of Ministry of Education which, in turn, is based on an open application process.

Upon receiving a proposal from the MHRD to convert IT-BHU into an Indian Institutes of Technology, the university's executive council approved the change in 2012.

[107] The institute comprises 11 departments and four auxiliary units and imparts education through undergraduate, postgraduate, special courses, PhD, and diploma programs.

[129] The FoC offers courses at undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral levels in commerce, financial management, foreign trade, and risk & insurance.

The Faculty of Performing Arts claims to have started the first department of Musicology in India headed by musicologist Prem Lata Sharma.

[137] Established in 1918, the Faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vijnan (SVDV) offers courses at Shastri (undergraduate), Acharya (postgraduate), Vidyavaridhi (doctoral) and diploma levels in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhism practices and philosophies.

[165] The Interdisciplinary School of Life Sciences (ISLS) is a joint initiative of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India and the BHU.

UGC SAP provides funds under its Centre of Advanced Study (CAS), Department of Special Assistance (DSA) and Departmental Research Support (DRS) programmes.

The centre also works to coordinate environmental programmes of the university[177] Established by the executive council of the university under the Government of India's Namami Gange Mission, the Malaviya Research Centre for Ganga, River Development & Water Resource Management is dedicated to the study of pollution of the Ganges.

[182] The centre has been tasked as the nodal agency for developing and monitoring courses on human values and ethics in all central universities.

The DIC focuses on providing a platform to the students and faculties of the university in order to foster innovation and creative problem solving.

[200][201] Admissions are done according to coursewise eligibility criteria set by the university, merit in the entrance tests, and as per reservation policy of the Government of India.

[84][213] Admissions to the diploma and Special Courses of Study (SCS) are conducted through varying processes depending on the faculty, directly by the university.

The trend of donation of personal and family collection to the library continued as late as the 1940s with the result that it has unique pieces of rarities of books and journals dating back to the 18th century.

[250][251] There is an intra-university fest, Spandan, where students represent their faculty/institute in various art competitions such as literature (essay-writing, poems, debates), painting, sketches, vocal music, dancing, singing, drama, and mimicry.