# List of people from Varanasi

This is a list of notable people from Varanasi, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India.

## Saints

* Kabir Das
* Lahiri Mahasaya, yogi
* Ravidas
* Tulsidas

## Activists

* Annie Besant
* Dyal Singh Majithia

## The arts, including music and entertainment

* Rasoolan Bai, singer
* Ashutosh Bhattacharya (1917–2004), tabla player
* Ekta Chowdhry, model
* Girija Devi, singer; Padma Vibhushan recipient
* Siddheshwari Devi, khayal singer; Padma Shri recipient
* Sitara Devi, actress, dancer and actress; Padma Shri recipient
* Bismillah Khan, shehnai player; Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan recipient
* Sujit Kumar, actor and producer
* Anant Lal, Indian classical musician and teacher
* Birju Maharaj, Kathak guru; Padma Vibhushan recipient
* Kishan Maharaj, tabla player; Padma Vibhushan recipient
* Vikash Maharaj, sarod player; Yash Bharati recipient
* Ronu Majumdar, flautist
* Channulal Mishra, Hindustani classical player; Padma Bhushan recipient
* Deobrat Mishra, sitarist, surbaharist
* Shivnath Mishra, sitarist, surbaharist
* Lalmani Misra, musician
* Hemanta Mukherjee, singer, music director and film director
* Shamta Prasad (Gudai Maharaj), tabla player; Padma Shri recipient
* Sameer, lyricist
* Ritwik Sanyal, singer, Dhrupad
* Ravi Shankar, sitarist; Bharat Ratna recipient
* Uday Shankar, dancer; Padma Vibhushan recipient
* Vidisha, actress
* Hiralal Yadav, folk dinger; Padma Shri recipient

## Scholar and writer

* Sitaram Chaturvedi, educator, dramatist and scholar
* Manmath Nath Gupta, revolutionary and writer

## Literature and academics

* Bedhab Banarasi, Hindi writer
* Kabir Das, mystic Bhojpuri poet and saint
* Ashok Dhawan, MLA, Uttar Pradesh
* Sudama Panday 'Dhoomil', poet
* Deviprasad Dwivedi, writer and teacher, Padma Bhushan recipient
* Shiv Prasad Gupta, freedom fighter, philanthropist and founder of Kashi Vidyapeeth
* Bharatendu Harishchandra, novelist, poet, playwright
* Gopinath Kaviraj (1887–1976), Sanskrit scholar; principal, Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi (1923–1937); Padma Vibhushan (1964)
* Devaki Nandan Khatri, writer
* Shiv Prasad Mishra, writer
* Veer Bhadra Mishra, founding president of the Sankat Mochan Foundation; former professor and HOD of civil engineering at IIT (BHU), Varanasi
* Premendra Mitra, Bengali poet and novelist
* Jaishankar Prasad, writer
* Premchand, Hindi-Urdu writer
* Ravidas, mystic saint and poet
* Vagish Shastri, Sanskrit scholar, tantric, linguist and grammarian
* Charu Sheel Singh, writer
* Kashi Nath Singh, writer
* Namvar Singh, literary critic, Sahitya Akademi winner
* Shiv Prasaad Singh, writer
* Teg Ali Teg, Bhojpuri writer and poet
* Harihar Kripalu Tripathi, Sanskrit scholar, Padma Bhushan recipient
* Tulsidas, saint and poet, and philosopher
* Baldev Upadhyaya, Hindi, Sanskrit scholar, literary historian, essayist and critic, Padma Bhushan recipient

## National and International Award winners
### Bharat Ratna

* Bhagwan Das, Bharat Ratna

### Padma Vibhushan

* Rai Krishnadasa, Padma Vibhushan
* K. L. Shrimali, Padma Vibhushan

### Padma Bhusan

* Deviprasad Dwivedi, writer and teacher, Padma Bhushan
* Gopinath Kaviraj (1887–1976), Sanskrit scholar; principal, Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi (1923–1937); Padma Vibhushan (1964)
* Harihar Kripalu Tripathi, Sanskrit scholar, Padma Bhushan
* Baldev Upadhyaya, Hindi, Sanskrit scholar, literary historian, essayist and critic, Padma Bhushan

## Politics
### Prime Minister of India

* Lal Bahadur Shastri, Ex-Prime Minister of India

### Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh

* Sampurnanand, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and former governor of Rajasthan
* Tribhuvan Narain Singh, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh
* Kamalapati Tripathi, writer, freedom fighter, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and former railway minister

### MP of Varanasi

* Shankar Prasad Jaiswal, former MP of Varanasi
* Anil Shastri, former MP of Varanasi
* Raghunath Singh, first MP of Varanasi

### Governor of states

* Lakshman Prasad Acharya, governor of Assam
* Devendra Nath Dwivedi, former governor of Gujarat
* Sri Prakasa, former governor of Assam
* Sampurnanand, former governor of Rajasthan

### MP of other constituency

* Jawahar Lal Jaiswal, former MP Chandauli
* Ananda Ratna Maurya, former MP Chandauli
* Sudhakar Pandey, former MP Chandauli
* Bal Krishna Singh, former MP Chandauli
* Virendra Singh, MP Chandauli
* Kailash Nath Yadav former MP Chandauli

### Other

* Sachindra Nath Bakshi, former MLA Varanasi South
* Ravindra Jaiswal, minister in the Second Yogi Adityanath ministry
* Harish Chandra Srivastava, former minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh
* Neelkanth Tiwari, minister in the Second Yogi Adityanath ministry

## Royalty

* Raja Chait Singh Zamindar of Benaras
* Kashi Naresh Maharaja Banaras Vibhuti Narayan Singh
* Maharani Kiran Rao, Queen of Bhopal
* Maharani Lakshmibai, Queen of Jhansi
* Raj Narain

## Scientists

* Arvind Mohan Kayastha, biologist
* Bishun Khare, research scientist
* Subhash Chandra Lakhotia, cytogenetist and biologist
* Sanjaya Rajaram, plant biologist
* Sushruta, father of plastic surgery

## Sports

* Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, basketball player
* Bernard Brodhurst, cricketer
* Maharajkumar of Vizianagram, cricketer
* Mohammed Shahid, field hockey player
* Akanksha Singh, basketball player
* Divya Singh, basketball player
* Prashanti Singh, basketball player
* Pratima Singh, basketball player
* Shivpal Singh, track and field athlete
* Lalit Upadhyay, field hockey player
* Narsingh Pancham Yadav, wrestler
* Punam Yadav, weightlifter
* Ram Singh Yadav, marathon runner

## Others

* Sir James Brooke, founder of the White Rajah dynasty of Sarawak
* Sitaram Chaturvedi, educator, dramatist and scholar
* Ekta Chowdhry, model
* Bhagwan Das, Bharat Ratna recipient
* Manmath Nath Gupta, revolutionary and writer
* Rai Krishnadasa, Padma Vibhushan recipient
* Lahiri Mahasaya, yogi
* Arun Pathak, activist and politician
* Ravidas
* Sameer, lyricist
* Sachindra Nath Sanyal, revolutionary and founder of the Hindustan Republican Association
* K. L. Shrimali, Padma Vibhushan
* Tapan Singhel, managing director and chief executive officer of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance