Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University (SLBSNSU) is a central university in New Delhi devoted to Sanskrit, traditional Indian knowledge systems, Shastraic learning, teacher education and related research. Its institutional roots go back to 8 October 1962, when the Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrit Sahitya Sammelan established a Sanskrit Vidyapeetha in Delhi and appointed scholar Mandan Mishra to lead its early development. A separate society, Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, was formed with Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri as founder president. After his death, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assumed the presidency and in October 1966 the institution was renamed Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha. The Government of India took over the Vidyapeetha in April 1967, and in December 1970 it became a constituent of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan under the name Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha. A separate society was registered in January 1987, and the Government of India granted deemed-to-be-university status later that year. The institution became fully functional in that status in November 1991. Its present central-university form dates from 30 April 2020, when the Central Sanskrit Universities Act, 2020 came into force. The university’s academic purpose includes preserving Shastraic traditions, interpreting classical texts, connecting traditional knowledge with contemporary questions, training Sanskrit teachers and supporting research in Sanskrit and allied disciplines. Its objectives also extend to Asian languages and literatures that intersect with Sanskrit studies. This historical progression—from a Sanskrit Vidyapeetha to a government institution, deemed university and finally central university—gives SLBSNSU a distinctive institutional lineage within India’s Sanskrit higher-education system. Alongside traditional Shastra disciplines, the university’s academic objectives explicitly support teacher preparation, pedagogy and engagement with allied Asian languages, giving it a broader scholarly role than the preservation of classical texts alone. Its Delhi campus remains a national centre for advanced Sanskrit scholarship.