Udai Pratap Autonomous College (UP College)

Set on roughly 100 acres of tree-shaded, fertile land in the Bhojubir–Narayanpur belt of north-west Varanasi, Udai Pratap Autonomous College — universally known as UP College — is one of the city's most atmospheric and least-touristed heritage campuses.

• It was founded in 1909 as Hewett Kshatriya High School by Rajarshi Udai Pratap Singh Ju Deo, the Raja of Bhinga, a prince who renounced his throne to live as a sanyasi and pour his fortune into education.
• Raised to an intermediate college in 1921, a degree college in 1949, and finally, in July 1991, the first institution in Uttar Pradesh to be granted autonomy by the University Grants Commission, the college wears its century-plus of history in its weathered brick facades, colonnaded verandahs and long, dignified avenues.
• For a traveller weary of the crowded riverfront, UP College offers a completely different register of Banaras: calm, green and academic.
• Broad playing fields — famous locally for cricket, football and athletics, and for producing Olympians and Arjuna awardees — stretch out beside old teaching blocks, a large campus pond, and stands of mango, neem and peepal that draw parakeets and mynas at dawn.
• It is not a ticketed monument but a living, working college, so the pleasure here is a slow, respectful stroll: reading the founder's story on the memorial plaques, photographing the early-twentieth-century architecture in soft morning light, and sensing the reformist idealism — shared with figures like Madan Mohan Malaviya — that shaped Varanasi's modern educational landscape.
• Because it is an active campus, visitors should keep to the open grounds and driveways, avoid disturbing classes or examinations, and treat the students and staff with the courtesy you would show any place of learning.
• Photography of the heritage buildings and greenery is welcome; photographing individuals without permission is not.
• Vegetarian travellers will feel entirely at home in this part of Varanasi, a city whose food culture is overwhelmingly vegetarian by tradition.
• The campus neighbourhood has simple chai stalls and snack carts, but for a proper meal it is worth the short auto ride toward the old city, where celebrated pure-vegetarian institutions such as Kashi Chat Bhandar in Godowlia, Ksheer Sagar in Sonarpura and Deena Chaat Bhandar near Bansphatak serve chaat, kachori-sabzi and mithai with no meat, egg or fish anywhere on the menu.
• One gentle caution common to all of Banaras: the famous thandai and lassi shops sometimes offer a bhang (cannabis) version, so always ask clearly for a plain, bhang-free lassi or thandai.