# List of Banaras Hindu University people

The list of Banaras Hindu University people includes notable graduates, professors and administrators affiliated with Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi. For a list of Vice-Chancellors, see List of Vice-Chancellors of Banaras Hindu University.

## Nobel laureates

* C. V. Raman, the Nobel Prize winner in Physics in 1930 and Bharat Ratna laureate in 1954 (permanent visiting professor at BHU)

## Heads of state and government

* A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, 11th President of India, 2002–2007;Bharat Ratna laureate in 1997 (visiting professor, taught technology at BHU)
* Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala (B.A. 1934), former Prime Minister of Nepal
* Krishan Kant (M.Sc.), former Vice President of India
* Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, first Vice President of India, 1952–1962; second President of India, 1962–1967; Bharat Ratna laureate in 1954 (the Vice Chancellor of BHU from 17 September 1939 to 16 January 1948)

## Notable alumni
### Arts, humanities and social sciences

* Famous alumni in arts, humanities, and social sciences
* Mannu Bhandari
* M. S. Golwalkar
* Radha Burnier
* Vibhuti Narayan Singh
* Robert M. Pirsig
| Name | Class Year | Degree | Notability |
| Adya Prasad Pandey | | BSc (Zoology, Botany), M.A., MBA, Ph.D. | Former Vice Chancellor ; Recipient of the BHU Gold Medal |
| Amara Ranatunga | | | Sri Lankan singer |
| Amarnath Sehgal | | | Indian sculptor, painter and poet, Padma Bhushan (2008) |
| Ananda Shankar | | | Hindustani classical musician |
| Bettina Bäumer | | | Austrian-born Indian scholar and academic |
| Bhupen Hazarika | 1944; 1946 | BA; MA | singer, poet, filmmaker; Recipient of the Bharat Ratna |
| Byomakesh Mohanty | | MA | painter |
| Harivash Narayan Singh | 1976, 1977 | MA Economics, Diploma Journalism | Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament |
| Harivansh Rai Bachchan | | | Hindi poet |
| Kamala Shankar | | M.Sc., Ph.D. | Hindustani classical musician |
| Kamalesh Chandra Chakrabarty | | M.Sc., Ph.D. | Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (2009–2014) |
| K. N. Govindacharya | 1962 | M.Sc. | environmentalist, social activist |
| Koenraad Elst | | | Belgian scholar |
| Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar | 1926, 1928 | B.Sc., M.Sc. | Second Sarsanghchalak (Supreme Chief) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh |
| Mannu Bhandari | 1953 | M.A | Acclaimed Hindi writer |
| Moti BA | | B.A. | Bhojpuri Language Poet and Author |
| Osnat Elkabir | | | Israeli singer, dancer and theatre director |
| Patrick Moutal | 1976; 1978; 1979; 1983 | B.Sc., M.Sc., M.A., Ph.D. | French musician and Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres awardee |
| Paul William Roberts | | studied Sanskrit | writer |
| Radha Burnier | | B.A., M.A | Theosophist |
| Ram Charan | | | Business consultant |
| Ritwik Sanyal | 1980 | M.A., Ph.D. | Hindustani classical musician, Dhrupad vocalist |
| Robert M. Pirsig | | | American philosopher |
| Raimon Panikkar | | | Spanish theologian |
| Sameer Anjaan | | M.Com. | lyricist |
| Sandeep Das | | BA (English Literature) | Tabla player; Recipient of the BHU Gold Medal, Grammy Award |
| Shiba Prasad Chatterjee | | | Geographer |
| Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena | | | poet |
| Shivamurthy Shivacharya Mahaswamiji | | Ph.D. | social activist, educationist |
| Veena Pandey | | B.A.,M.A. ,Ph.D. in Hindi | Politician, Former Member of Legislative Council, Politician |
| Vibhuti Narayan Singh | | M.A. | last Maharaja of Benares; social activist; Chancellor of BHU |
| Vina Mazumdar | | | feminist, academic, pioneer of women's studies |

#### Social sciences

| Name | Class Year | Degree | Notability | References |
| Ahmad Hasan Dani | 1944 | M.A. | Pakistani archaeologist and historian | |
| Awadh Kishore Narain | 1947 | M.A. | archaeologist, historian, academic | |
| Bellikoth Raghunath Shenoy | 1929 | M.A. | classical liberal economist | |
| Bindeshwar Pathak | 1964 | B.A. Sociology | Padma Bhushan awardee Founder, Sulabh International | [44] [45] |
| Colin Turnbull | | MA | British-American anthropologist | |
| Ram Raj Pant | 1941; 1943 | LLB; MA | founder of Nepal Law College; pioneering linguist of Nepali language | |

#### Literature

* Sitaram Chaturvedi (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.), playwright, academic
* Janki Ballabh Shastri, Indian Hindi poet, writer and critic, Padma Shri (2010)
* Atul Kumar Rai (B.Mus. Tabla) (M.P.A. Musicology) Sahitya Academy Award winner

#### Politicians

* Ved Prakash Goyal, politician
* Rajesh Kumar Mishra, politician
* Yadunandan Sharma (B.A. 1929), Indian independence activist, farmers' rights activist
* Shyama Charan Shukla, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
* Veena Pandey, (B.A., M.A., B.Ed., LLB, Ph.D.), Former M.L.C., National Executive Member, B.J.P. Former Vice President Student Union B.H.U.
| Name | Class Year | Degree | Notability |
| Amod Prasad Upadhyay | | | Minister of Education and Sports, Nepal |
| Anil Srivastava | | | |
| Ashok Mitra | | M.A. | politician, finance Minister of West Bengal |
| Bhola Paswan Shastri, | | | Former Chief Minister Of Bihar |
| Iswar Prasanna Hazarika, | | | Former Lok Sabha MP, former Director of NTPC, MMTC, STC etc. |
| Janaki Ballabh Patnaik | 1949 | M.A. | politician, former Chief Minister of Odisha |
| Jagjivan Ram | | | 4th Deputy Prime Minister of India |
| Mahendra Nath Pandey | | M. A., Ph.D. Hindi | politician, MP, Minister in union cabinet |
| Manoj Sinha | | M.Tech | Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, former Member of parliament |
| Mohamed Ayub | 1985 | M. Surgery | MLA in Sixteenth Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh |
| Manoj Tiwari | | M.P.Ed. | |
| Sarat Chandra Sinha | | | politician, Chief Minister of Assam |
| Shankar Dayal Singh | | BA | Member of Lok Sabha |
| Ram Bahadur Rai | | MA Economics | senior Hindi journalist, former editor Jansatta |

### Science and technology

* Prem Saran Satsangi Sahab, Leader of Radhasoami Faith, Dayalbagh. System Scientist and Physicist. (Ex Dean IIT Delhi, EX-Vice chancellor, Dayalbagh Educational Institute)
* Ashok Agarwal (B.Sc. 1975, M.Sc. 1977, Ph.D. 1983), pioneer in reproductive biology
* Girish Saran Agarwal (M.Sc.), physicist specialising in quantum optics; Regents Professor in the Department of Physics of Oklahoma State University; winner of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (Physics) in 1982; elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2008
* Pulickel Ajayan (B.Tech. 1985), pioneer in nanotechnology
* Nikesh Arora (B.Tech. 1989), senior vice president and chief business officer at Google
* Meenakshi Banerjee, scientist
* Bir Bhanu, (B.Tech. 1972), Electronics Engineering, Bourns Presidential Chair in Engineering and Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of California, Riverside, California
* Alok Bhattacharya, Parasitologist and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Nishith Gupta (M.Sc. 1999), molecular biologist
* Achal Das Bohra (B.Sc. 1941), government administrator, engineer
* S. Ganesh (PhD 1996), molecular geneticist, N-Bios laureate
* Vinod Kumar Gaur, seismologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Kota Harinarayana (B.Tech. 1965), scientist, academic
* Aldas Janaiah (Ph.D. 1995), agricultural scientist
* Arvind Mohan Kayastha (B.Sc. 1979, M.Sc. 1982, Ph.D. 1988), scientist, academic
* Akhlesh Lakhtakia (B.Tech. 1979, D.Sc. 2006), pioneered sculptured thin films
* Subhash Chandra Lakhotia, cytogeneticist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Devendra Lal, geophysicist; winner of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (Physics) in 1967; elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1979
* Shrikant Lele, metallurgical engineer, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Anand Mohan (B.Sc. 1976, Ph.D. 1983), geologist
* Basanti Dulal Nagchaudhuri (B.Sc. 1936), physicist
* Nishtala Appala Narasimham (M.Sc. 1945, Ph.D. 1952), physicist
* Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (B.Sc. 1957), theoretical physicist, Padma Vibhushan (1965)
* Paramasivam Natarajan, photochemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Sri Niwas, geophysicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Ganesh Prasad Pandey, organic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Virendra Nath Pandey, Molecular virologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* T. V. Ramakrishnan (B.Sc. 1959, M.Sc. 1961), theoretical physicist; winner of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (Physics) in 1982; elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2000
* Shyam Sundar Rai, seismologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Madisetti Anant Ramlu, founder and first Head of the Department of Mining Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
* Ayyagari Sambasiva Rao, founder of ECIL
* C. N. R. Rao (M.Sc. 1953), chemist; scientific advisor to the Prime Minister of India; Bharat Ratna laureate in 2014
* Ram Harsh Singh, Padmashri awardee 2016, ABMS 1961(BHU), MD(Hons), Ph.D. 1969 (BHU), D.Litt. FNA IM, Life-time Distinguished Professor, Faculty of Ayurveda BHU, First Vice Chancellor, Rajasthan Ayurved University, Jodhpur (2003–2006).
* Narla Tata Rao, former chairman of the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board
* Palle Rama Rao (Ph.D.), metallurgist and Padma Vibhushan awardee
* Patcha Ramachandra Rao (M.Sc. 1965, Ph.D. 1968), metallurgist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate, Vice Chancellor of BHU
* Udipi Ramachandra Rao (M.Sc. 1952), space scientist, Chairman of ISRO
* N. A. Ramaiah physical chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Gangadhar J. Sanjayan, bioorganic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Mushi Santappa, polymer chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Debi Prasad Sarkar, Immunologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Jagdish Shukla (B.Sc. 1962, M.Sc. 1964, Ph.D. 1971), meteorologist
* Lalji Singh, molecular biologist, Vice Chancellor of BHU
* Nagendra Kumar Singh (B.Sc. 1978, M.Sc. 1980), agricultural scientist; pioneer in mapping plant genomes
* Rishi Narain Singh, geophysicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Manick Sorcar (B.Tech.), artist, engineer, entrepreneur
* Brahm Shanker Srivastava, microbiologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Onkar Nath Srivastava (MSc 1961 and PhD 1966), material physicist and a recipient of Padma Shri and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize
* M. J. Thirumalachar, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Satish K. Tripathi (B.Sc., M.Sc.), President of University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
* Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya, physicist and mathematician; proponent of Vaidya Metric for gravitational fields; Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University
* A. N. Rai ex vc NEHU
* Sandeep Verma, bioorganic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Kameshwar C. Wali (M.Sc.), research physicist and science writer
* Saket Kushwaha (B.Sc. 1983, M.Sc. 1986, Ph.D. 1992), agricultural economist, VC Rajiv Gandhi University
* Jay Chaudhry (B.Tech. 1980) Founder & CEO, Zscaler

### Sports

| Name | Class Year | Degree | College | Notability | References |
| Divya Singh | | BA | | Captain of Indian Women's Basketball team | |

## Notable faculty
### Arts, humanities and social sciences

* Adya Prasad Pandey, Professor in Economics and Former Head Department of Economics, Vice Chancellor Manipur University
* Anant Sadashiv Altekar, Manindra Chandra Nandi Chair of Ancient History & Culture; led archaeological excavation of Mauryan era structures
* V. Balaji, Professor of Violin
* Chandrakala Padia, professor, political science, noted political scientist
* C. V. Chandrasekhar, Professor of Performing Arts; Bharata Natyam dancer; Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner; Kalidas Samman and Padma Bhushan awardee
* A.K. Chatterjee, Professor of philosophy, Indian philosopher and Buddhist scholar
* Sitaram Chaturvedi, Professor of Literature, playwright
* Amiya Kumar Dasgupta, Professor of Economics (1947–1958); pioneer of economics in Independent India
* Girija Devi, Professor of Performing Arts; Hindustani classical vocalist
* Julius Getman, Visiting professor of Law
* Chandradhar Sharma Guleri, former Manindra Chandra Nandi Chair in Ancient History and Religion
* Latika Katt, Professor of Visual Arts; sculptor
* Sucheta Kripalani, Professor of Constitutional History
* Dalsukh Dahyabhai Malvania, Jain scholar, writer and Padma Bhushan awardee
* Lalmani Misra, Professor of Music; Hindustani classical musician
* Ram Shankar Misra, Professor of Comparative Religion
* Awadh Kishore Narain, Professor of History (1947–1960); Manindra Chandra Nandi Chair of Ancient History & Culture (1960–1971)
* B.C. Nirmal, Professor of Law
* N. Rajam, Professor of Performing Arts
* S. R. Ranganathan, Professor of Library Science (1945–1947); inventor of colon classification and five laws of library science
* Ritwik Sanyal, Professor of Performing Arts; Hindustani classical musician
* Ram Chandra Shukla, Professor of Visual Arts; painter
* Ramchandra Shukla, Professor of Literature
* Gurbachan Singh Talib, Professor of Sikh Studies
* Omkarnath Thakur, Professor of Performing Arts; Hindustani classical musician
* Koushal Kishor Mishra, Professor of Political Sciences, and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences
* Alok Kumar Rai, Professor of Management Studies

### Science and technology

* Prem Saran Satsangi Sahab, Leader of Radhasoami Faith, Dayalbagh. System Scientist and Physicist. (Ex Dean IIT Delhi, EX-Vice chancellor, Dayalbagh Educational Institute)
* Sir Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Professor of Chemistry (1921–1924); co-inventor of Bhatnagar-Mathur Magnetic Interference Balance; founding chairman of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
* Patcha Ramachandra Rao, former Vice Chancellor and Professor of Metallurgy and Material Science
* Prafulla Kumar Jena, former professor of Metallurgical Engineering
* Prakash Chandra Sood, Padma Shri, Nuclear scientist, researcher, and Professor
* Madhu Sudan Kanungo, Professor of Biology (1962–2011); pioneer of gerontology; Padma Shri awardee
* Arvind Mohan Kayastha, Professor of Biotechnology
* Shrikant Lele, metallurgical engineer, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Veer Bhadra Mishra, former professor of Civil Engineering; environmentalist; founder of Swatcha Ganga Campaign
* Ganesh Prasad, Professor of Mathematics (1917–1923); mathematician
* Palle Rama Rao, Professor of Metallurgy (1962–1982); scientist; Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardee
* Birbal Sahni, Professor of Botany (1920); authority on plant fossils of Gondwana and Jurassic age
* Ram Harsh Singh Padmashri awardee 2016, ABMS 1961(BHU), MD(Hons), Ph.D. 1969 (BHU), D.Litt. FNA IM, Life-time Distinguished Professor, Faculty of Ayurveda BHU, First Vice Chancellor, Rajasthan Ayurved University, Jodhpur (2003–2006).
* Onkar Nath Srivastava Professor of the department of physics, material physicist and a recipient of Padma Shri and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize
* Birendra Bijoy Biswas, lecturer (1952–54); department of botany, recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize
* Jamuna Sharan Singh, ecologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize recipient
* Kamanio Chattopadhyay, materials engineer, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize recipient
* Sunit Kumar Singh, molecular biologist, Fellow of Indian Academy of Neuroscience (FIANS)
* Anil Kumar Tripathi (BSc, MSc, PhD; director Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali