In the present study, detail investigation of groundwater for the suitability of drinking purposes in Varanasi area. For this purpose, 42 groundwater samples from shallow hand pump and deep hand pump wells and tube wells were collected and analyzed. The pH values reveal that the groundwater is alkali in nature. The quality assessment shows that in general, the water is suitable for domestic purposes. Total dissolved solids of all of analyzed groundwater samples were falling in the category of fresh water. HCO₃^- and Cl^- are dominant anions and Na⁺ and Mg²⁺ as the dominant cations in the water chemistry. The sequence of the abundance of the major ions is in the following order: Na⁺ > Mg²⁺ _> Ca^{2+ >} K⁺ = HCO₃> Cl > SO₄> CO₃> F^-. The concentration of major ions in groundwater is within the permissible limits for drinking except fluoride. The amount of total dissolved solids was less than 300 mg/L, indicating a “fresh environment”. In majority of the samples, the analyzed parameters are well within the desirable limits and water is potable for drinking purposes. However, concentrations of Total hardness, Na⁺, Mg⁺, K²⁺ and fluoride exceed the desirable limit at few sites.