List of people from Varanasi
This is a list of notable people from Varanasi, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Saints
Activists
The arts, including music and entertainment
- Rasoolan Bai, singer
- Ashutosh Bhattacharya, 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 * Prabhash Maharaj, Tabla player; shiromani recipient
- Deobrat Mishra, sitarist, surbaharist
- Shivnath Mishra, sitarist, surbaharist
- Lalmani Misra, musician
- Hemanta Mukherjee, singer, music director and film director
- Shamta Prasad, 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, Sanskrit scholar; principal, Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi ; Padma Vibhushan
- 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, 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
Padma Vibhushan
Padma Bhusan
- Deviprasad Dwivedi, writer and teacher, Padma Bhushan
- Gopinath Kaviraj, Sanskrit scholar; principal, Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi ; Padma Vibhushan
- Harihar Kripalu Tripathi, Sanskrit scholar, Padma Bhushan
- Baldev Upadhyaya, Hindi, Sanskrit scholar, literary historian, essayist and critic, Padma Bhushan
Padma Shri
- Kamalakar Tripathi, Indian physician and Former Professor in the Department of Medicine, BHU Institute of Medical Sciences. He has been the Head of Nephrology Department.
- Ajita Srivastava is an Indian singer, educationist and a social worker. Srivastava is known for popularizing and promoting the Kajari folk songs.
- Bismillah Khan
Politics
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
- Jyotsana Srivastava,former MLA, Varanasi
- Saurabh Srivastava,MLA, Varanasi Cantt
Royalty
- Raja Chait Singh Maharaja 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
- , CRICKETER
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