The Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya
(university) was founded on 22 March 1958 by the then Chief Minister Dr.
Sampurnanand and Education Minister Pt. Kamalapati Tripathi, with the
name of `Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya'. Dr. A.N. Jha was its
first vice-chancellor. It was renamed as Sampurnanand Sanskrit
University under the U.P. State University Act, 1973.
The University has since been proceeding along the set path of the
programme while trying to achieve its goal. The Sampurnanand Sanskrit
University has a great history of about 205 years (including the Govt.
Sanskrit College). In other words, the history of the Sampurnanand
Sanskrit University includes history of the Sanskrit Education itself.
The guidelines set by the glorious past of the Govt. Sanskrit College
Benares has been the focus of the university.
The history of the Govt. Sanskrit College goes back to the last quarter
of the eighteenth century. Under a proposal of Sri Jonathan Duncan, the
Govt. Sanskrit College was established in 1791. Pt. Kashinath was its
first teacher and Acharya. At that point of time, there was an
arrangement for the teaching of subjects such as Vedas, Vedanta Purana,
Ayurveda, Sahitya, Astrology, Theology, Mimamsa, Nyaya, etc. The college
was conducted with the surplus revenue of the Benares State. At present
the Sampurnanand University has a number of faculties and departments,
dedicated to the study of various humanities and science disciplines.
