Sampurnanand Sanskrit University

Sampurnanand Sanskrit University is a state university at Jagatganj, Chaukaghat in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It grew out of the Government Sanskrit College of Benares, set up in 1791, and was constituted as Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya on 22 March 1958 under the Varanaseya Sanskrit University Act of 1956. It took its present name with effect from 16 December 1974 under the Uttar Pradesh State Universities Act, 1973. The Governor of Uttar Pradesh is the Chancellor, and the campus covers 67 acres. NAAC accredited the university at B+ in the first cycle (2007, valid 31 March 2007 to 30 March 2012) and at A in the second cycle (2014, CGPA 3.06, valid 10 December 2014 to 9 December 2019).

Teaching is organised in five faculties: Veda-Vedanga, Sahitya Sanskriti, Darshan, Sramana Vidya and Adhunika Gyan Vijyana. The 2023-24 AQAR reports 22 departments and 3,076 students. The degrees are Shastri (undergraduate, a four-year eight-semester programme under NEP 2020), Acharya (postgraduate), Vidyavaridhi (Ph.D.) and Vidyavachaspati (D.Litt.), offered in about 39 subjects, among them the Vedas, Vyakarana, Jyotisha, Dharmashastra, Sahitya, Nyaya, Vedanta, Mimamsa, Bauddha and Jaina Darshana, Pali and linguistics. Shiksha Shastri (B.Ed.), a two-year programme recognised by NCTE with two basic units of 50 students, Library and Information Science Shastri, B.Voc and M.Voc programmes, foreign-language diplomas and online Sanskrit certificate courses are also offered. The university states that more than 600 colleges across India are affiliated to it. Admission for 2026-27 is through the Samarth portal.