This is a list of notable people from Varanasi, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India.

• Kabir Das
• Lahiri Mahasaya, yogi
• Ravidas
• Tulsidas

• Annie Besant
• Dyal Singh Majithia

• Rasoolan Bai, singer
• Ashutosh Bhattacharya (1917–2004), 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
• Deobrat Mishra, sitarist, surbaharist
• Shivnath Mishra, sitarist, surbaharist
• Lalmani Misra, musician
• Hemanta Mukherjee, singer, music director and film director
• Shamta Prasad (Gudai Maharaj), 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

• Sitaram Chaturvedi, educator, dramatist and scholar
• Manmath Nath Gupta, revolutionary and writer

• 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 (1887–1976), Sanskrit scholar; principal, Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi (1923–1937); Padma Vibhushan (1964)^[1]
• 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 (BHU), Varanasi^[2]
• 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

• Bhagwan Das, Bharat Ratna

• Rai Krishnadasa, Padma Vibhushan
• K. L. Shrimali, Padma Vibhushan

• Deviprasad Dwivedi, writer and teacher, Padma Bhushan
• Gopinath Kaviraj (1887–1976), Sanskrit scholar; principal, Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi (1923–1937); Padma Vibhushan (1964)^[1]
• Harihar Kripalu Tripathi, Sanskrit scholar, Padma Bhushan
• Baldev Upadhyaya, Hindi, Sanskrit scholar, literary historian, essayist and critic, Padma Bhushan

• Kamalakar Tripathi, Indian physician and Former Professor in the Department of Medicine, BHU Institute of Medical Sciences.[1][2] 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.

• Lal Bahadur Shastri, Ex-Prime Minister of India

• 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

• Shankar Prasad Jaiswal, former MP of Varanasi
• Anil Shastri, former MP of Varanasi
• Raghunath Singh, first MP of Varanasi

• Lakshman Prasad Acharya, governor of Assam
• Devendra Nath Dwivedi, former governor of Gujarat
• Sri Prakasa, former governor of Assam
• Sampurnanand, former governor of Rajasthan

• 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

• 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

• Raja Chait Singh Zamindar of Benaras
• Kashi Naresh Maharaja Banaras Vibhuti Narayan Singh
• Maharani Kiran Rao, Queen of Bhopal
• Maharani Lakshmibai, Queen of Jhansi
• Raj Narain

• Arvind Mohan Kayastha, biologist
• Bishun Khare, research scientist
• Subhash Chandra Lakhotia, cytogenetist and biologist
• Sanjaya Rajaram, plant biologist
• Sushruta, father of plastic surgery

• 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

• 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