Lipikalpa 2026: Inside Parul University’s National Symposium on Calligraphy, Manuscripts & Visual Storytelling

Some university events are lectures; a few are landmarks. Lipikalpa 2026 is an annual calligraphy festival and workshop series hosted by Parul Institute of Fine Arts at Parul University to celebrate the ever-evolving spirit of lettering, manuscripts, and visual storytelling. Organised in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), Regional Centre, Vadodara, this art-inspired event was graced by museum directors, leading art historians, scholars, and art explorers.

As it ran from 10th to 14th August 2026, Lipikalpa was divided into two connected parts. The national symposium on “Text & Image” was held from 10th to 11th August at Raja Ravi Varma Studio in the Lakshmi Vilas Palace Compound of Vadodara. The other phase was dedicated to celebrating World Calligraphy Day, from the 12th to 14th of August at Parul Institute of Fine Arts’ campus. This classic series of workshops was filled with demonstrations, hands-on learning experiences, and projects. Altogether, students were truly inspired by the Indian art & heritage experiences.

What set Lipikalpa apart was the sheer calibre of its speakers, a roll-call of India’s most distinguished figures in art, art history, and heritage. They included:

• Padma Bhushan Gulammohammed Sheikh, the celebrated artist, poet, and art critic, who explored “The Story of the Tongue and the Text” and India’s narrative traditions.
• Padma Shri Achyut Palav, founder of the Achyut Palav School of Calligraphy and one of India’s foremost calligraphers.
• Padma Shri Ratan Parimoo, the eminent art historian and former director of the L.D. Museum, Ahmedabad.

• Asok Das, former Director of the City Palace Museum, Jaipur, and a consultant to the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
• Shailendra Kushwaha (former Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda), Dr. Rita Sodha, Dr. Shweta Prajapati (M.S. University of Baroda), and Dr. Sarang Sharma, art historian.
• Raghavendra Rao H. Kulkarni, Principal of Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bengaluru, who presented “Text & Image: A Journey of Miniature Art in Karnataka.”
• Dr. Kanu Priya, Head of the Department of Art History, Banaras Hindu University; and, from the IGNCA, Prof. Sudhir Lall and Dr. Sachchidananda Joshi, Member Secretary of the IGNCA.

• Tarun Deep Giridhar, Principal Faculty in Graphic Design at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad.
• Dilbagh Singh, the noted calligrapher, designer, and educator.
• Dr. P. Perumal, former Director of the Saraswati Mahal Museum, Thanjavur, one of Asia’s oldest manuscript repositories, who led an intensive manuscript conservation workshop.

Across these 5 days, the symposium navigated the full arc of India’s text and image heritage. The historians and scholars traced how the great manuscript and miniature painting traditions , Jain, Mewar, Pahari, and many more, wove calligraphy and illumination and tried to convert images into a single piece of art. The master calligraphers  represented how handcrafted letterforms are making a comeback in the digital age, and a hands-on conservation workshop  was conducted to teach how the fragile palm leaf and manuscripts carry this heritage.

For students of the Parul Institute of Fine Arts, Lipikalpa offered something rare: the chance to learn directly from Padma awardees, museum directors, and national scholars, and to handle centuries-old manuscripts with a master conservator. For Parul University, hosting a symposium of this stature, in collaboration with a national institution like the IGNCA, reflects a serious commitment to the arts and to India’s cultural heritage. Events like Lipikalpa do more than celebrate the past; they pass its knowledge and its craft to the next generation. Explore creative programs at Parul University, from Bachelor of Visual Arts in Applied Arts and B.Des in Communication Design to Master of Visual Arts in Art & Heritage Management, Master of Visual Arts in Applied Arts, and Master of Design in Design Management and Communication Strategy.