Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith owes its birth to the educational ,cultural & political aspiration of pre-independence India. The early period of this institution pulsated with the National freedom struggle.The teaching faculty of this institution provided original dimensions to the concept and movement of Indian Socialism . After seeing an educational institution in Japan during his visit to that country in 1913-14, Babu Shiva Prasad Gupt drew inspiration to establish an institution in India, free from goverment aid or interference.The boycott of government-aided educational institutions during the Non-Cooperation movement coupled with Mahatma Gandhi's programme of National Education exerted a great deal of influence on Babu Shiva Prasad Gupt. As a consequence the Vidyapith came into being. Students joining Mahatma Gandhi's boycott call took admission in the Vidyapith. "Bharat Ratna", Babu Shiva Prasad Gupt established the "Har Prasad Smarak Nidhi" in the memory of his deceased brother,for the operation of the Vidyapith,which subsequently proved to be a fertile nursery of National Freedom movement activities.
Bharat Ratna Dr.Bhagwan Das was the first Vice-chancellor of Kashi Vidyapith. Great persons like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Bhagwan Das, Lala Lajpat Rai, Jamuna Lal Bajaj, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, Babu Shiva Prasad Gupt, Acharya Narendra Dev, Krishna Kant Malviya, P.D.Tandon were associated with the first board of Management of Kashi Vidyapith. The founding ceremomy of the Vidyapith reverberated with the recital of holy Vedic Mantras as well as excerpts from the holy Quran in the presence of Educationists, learned persons and Nationalists such as Pandit Motilal Nehru, Maulana Mohammed Ali and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. In the illustrious tradition of students & graduates of Kashi Vidyapith, names of persons like Chandra Shekhar Azad, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Pt. Kamlapati Tripathi, Prof. Raja Ram Shastri, B.V.Keskar A.R.Shastri, Mananathnath Gupt, Pranavesh Chatterjee, T.N.Singh, Harinath Shastri, Bhola Paswan Shastri & Ram Krishna Hegde deserve special mentoin.