Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. It is ranked amongst the most prestigious universities of the country. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, which had been founded by theosophist and future Indian Home Rule leader Annie Besant in 1898. By December 1911, Annie Besant and the Theosophists had relinquished day-to-day control of the Central Hindu College to Madan Mohan Malaviya and others, who emphasised a more orthodox Hindu education, preserving traditional practices such as the hereditary caste system, in contrast to Besant's Theosophical vision. Five years later Malaviya established the university with the support of the maharaja of Darbhanga Rameshwar Singh, the maharaja of Benares Prabhu Narayan Singh, and the lawyer Sunder Lal.