10 Best Calligraphy Artists in India (2026)

Calligraphy is the art of making letters worth looking at — and India does it better than almost anywhere in the world. From Devanagari scripts refined over centuries in Mumbai studios, to Copperplate flourishes at celebrity weddings, to Islamic calligraphy held in international collections, the depth of talent here is genuinely extraordinary.

This is a guide to ten of the finest calligraphy artists practising in India right now — spanning Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and beyond, across every major style and script. Whether you are searching for a calligraphy artist near you, planning live calligraphy at a wedding, or commissioning a custom piece as a gift, this is where to start.

Stoned Santa has been discovering and commissioning India's finest artists since 2016. If you want help reaching any of the artists featured here, or finding the right one for your brief, get in touch with Shashank and he will point you in the right direction.

10 Best Calligraphy Artists in India — 2026

Each artist is listed with their city, speciality, and what they are best suited for. The range here is deliberate — from National Award winners to digital lettering specialists, from classical Islamic scripts to contemporary brush work.

1. Achyut Palav — The Grand Master of Indian Calligraphy, Mumbai

Mumbai  ·  Devanagari · Roman · Indian Scripts

No conversation about calligraphy in India begins anywhere other than Achyut Palav. A National Award winner with over four decades of practice, he is the most influential Indian calligrapher alive — the figure who has done more than anyone else to argue that Devanagari belongs alongside Chinese, Persian, and Japanese calligraphy as a world-class art form.

A graduate of Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art in Mumbai, trained under the legendary R.K. Joshi, he founded the Achyut Palav School of Calligraphy and has authored several books on the subject. His work ranges from rigorously classical Devanagari compositions to bold gestural pieces in both Roman and Indian scripts — exhibited nationally and internationally. He is the reference point against which every other Indian calligrapher is measured.

Best for: Fine art commissions, institutional and legacy pieces, collectors of serious Indian script calligraphy.

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2. Sanjana Chatlani — Bombay Lettering Co., Mumbai

Mumbai  ·  Copperplate · Spencerian · Devanagari · Live Event Calligraphy

Sanjana Chatlani is the calligrapher who wrote at the Priyanka Chopra–Nick Jonas wedding. She has created bespoke lettering for Google India, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Rolex, and Deepika Padukone's skincare brand. She left a corporate career to found the Bombay Lettering Company — now one of India's most recognised calligraphy studios.

Trained in Copperplate and Spencerian under Italian Master Penwoman Barbara Calzolari — whose work is held at the Vatican — and in Devanagari under Achyut Palav himself, she moves fluently between Western classical scripts and Indian letterforms. Her commissions span handwritten pieces, surface lettering on wood, glass, mirror and acrylic, and live event calligraphy at some of India's most high-profile occasions. We have spoken with her at length about her practice and the art form — you can read that conversation in our interview with Sanjana Chatlani.

Best for: Wedding calligraphy, luxury brand activations, live event calligraphy, Copperplate and Spencerian commissions.

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3. Nikheel Aphale — Devanagari as Fine Art, Bengaluru

Bengaluru  ·  Abstract Devanagari · Mixed Media · Ink & Watercolour

Nikheel Aphale is arguably the most internationally recognised Indian calligrapher working today. An NID Ahmedabad alumnus based in Bengaluru, he has spent his career treating Devanagari not as a script but as visual art — abstracting its letterforms, layering them, working with unconventional tools alongside traditional nibs to produce compositions that are simultaneously rooted in Indian cultural identity and entirely contemporary.

His work is installed in India's new Parliament Building. His 2020 debut exhibition 'Sacred Strokes' sold out in six hours. He has exhibited at the World Calligraphy Biennale in South Korea, been published in the American journal Letter Arts Review, and received the Excellence in Calligraphy award at the Jikji International Exhibition in 2024. For collectors and institutions in search of serious contemporary calligraphy, his work is in a league of its own.

Best for: Fine art collectors, institutional commissions, contemporary Devanagari work, Bengaluru-based clients.

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4. Shipra Rohatgi — Likhawat Designs, Delhi

Delhi  ·  Watercolour Calligraphy · Regional Scripts · Traditional Indian

Shipra Rohatgi is a fourth-generation calligrapher — her family has been practising this art for over a century. Through Likhawat Designs, she brings that heritage into the present with a practice built around watercolour calligraphy: regional Indian language poems and texts rendered in script, enhanced with botanical flourishes and soft colour washes that make the lettering feel as much like a painting as a piece of writing.

Over three decades she has completed projects for Bollywood actors, Indian royal families, industrialists, and international brands, across virtually every surface — stone, metal, canvas, walls, sarees, ceramics, wood, and glass. For clients in Delhi wanting a calligraphy artist who combines a century of family heritage with genuine visual warmth, she is in a category of her own.

Best for: Watercolour calligraphy, traditional Indian script commissions, personalised poetry and wedding invitations in regional languages, Delhi-based clients.

5. Sudeep Gandhi — Multi-Script Calligrapher, India

India  ·  Multi-Script · Indian Scripts · Award-Winning

Sudeep Gandhi has a singular ambition: to master and practise every Indian script through calligraphy. In 2024 he received the Excellence in Calligraphy award at the Jikji International Calligraphy Exhibition in South Korea — one of the most prestigious recognition events in global calligraphy — placing him firmly among internationally significant Indian calligraphers.

His multi-script practice demands extraordinary technical range. Each Indian script carries its own proportions, stroke mechanics, and tools. For clients who need calligraphy in a specific regional language — Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati — he is one of the few artists in India genuinely committed to all of them at the highest level.

Best for: Regional script calligraphy, culturally specific gifting, multi-language commissions, clients seeking internationally recognised Indian calligraphy.

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6. Suresh Waghmore — Kannada Calligrapher & Pen Maker, Bengaluru

Bengaluru  ·  Kannada Calligraphy · English · Watercolour · Bespoke Pens

Suresh Waghmore does something almost no other calligrapher in India does: he makes his own pens. That alone tells you how deeply engaged he is with the craft at every level. Based in Bengaluru, he works in both Kannada and English calligraphy — Kannada being a particular speciality, since skilled Kannada calligraphers are genuinely rare and the script's rounded, fluid character rewards the meditative, tool-sensitive practice he brings to it.

His wider practice includes watercolour work and experimental abstracts. For clients in Bengaluru and Karnataka seeking a calligraphy artist who knows Kannada script at the deepest level, he is the natural first call.

Best for: Kannada calligraphy, Bengaluru-based clients, regional script work with a contemporary sensibility.

7. Chandan Mahimkar — Digital Lettering & Calligraphy, Mumbai

Mumbai  ·  Digital Lettering · Brand Calligraphy · Contemporary

As calligraphy moves from paper to screen — brand identities, packaging, social media — an artist who understands both the traditional craft and its digital application becomes genuinely rare. Chandan Mahimkar, based in Mumbai, occupies exactly that space. He works at the intersection of classical calligraphy and contemporary digital lettering, producing work that retains the warmth of handcrafted script while functioning perfectly in modern contexts.

Recognised within the Indian calligraphy community — he has been hosted by the Bombay Lettering Company for workshops — his practice is ideal for brands, startups, and individuals who want the authority of calligraphic letterforms without the constraints of purely traditional media.

Best for: Brand identity with calligraphic lettering, digital wedding suite design, contemporary calligraphy for Mumbai-based businesses.

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8. Qamar Dagar — Islamic & Arabic Calligraphy, Delhi

Delhi  ·  Arabic Calligraphy · Islamic Calligraphy · Urdu · Persian Scripts

India's connection to Arabic and Islamic calligraphy runs through centuries of Mughal patronage, Urdu literary culture, and the Nastaliq tradition. Qamar Dagar, based in Delhi, is one of India's most accomplished practitioners of this lineage. Her work — Arabic and Persian scripts rendered with the precision and spiritual discipline the tradition demands — has been exhibited internationally and held in collections worldwide.

For clients seeking an Arabic or Islamic calligraphy artist in India — whether for Quranic verses, personalised Urdu or Persian text, wedding invitations in Arabic script, or decorative wall art — she is among the finest available anywhere in the country.

Best for: Islamic and Arabic calligraphy commissions, Urdu and Persian script work, devotional calligraphy pieces, Delhi-based clients.

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9. Hera — Modern Brush Lettering, India

India (ships worldwide)  ·  Modern Lettering · Brush Calligraphy · Personal Gifting

Not all calligraphy needs to be monumental. Some of the most meaningful pieces are the ones that arrive at exactly the right moment — a quote, a name, a phrase — written with enough care and warmth that it stops you. Hera, known as themerakigirl, has built a following of over 20,000 through exactly this kind of work: approachable, warm, emotionally direct modern brush calligraphy.

Her commissions are particularly well suited to gifting, personal keepsakes, and wall art that feels genuinely felt rather than merely decorative. For clients who want contemporary calligraphy without the formality of classical traditions, she delivers consistently and with heart.

Best for: Personal gifting, modern brush lettering, motivational calligraphy art, accessible contemporary calligraphy.

10. Dr. Santosh Kshirsagar — Devanagari Research Calligrapher, Mumbai

Mumbai  ·  Devanagari · Research Calligraphy · Typography

The most important work in any art form often happens quietly — in research, in teaching, in the slow building of knowledge that others stand on. Dr. Santosh Kshirsagar, BFA and MFA by research from Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art and currently its Dean, has spent over three decades doing exactly that for Indian calligraphy. His research into Devanagari is among the most rigorous in the country, and he has led hundreds of workshops across India and internationally.

His practice bridges calligraphy, typography, and visual communication — giving him a perspective that is rare even among highly accomplished artists. For clients in Mumbai who want Devanagari calligraphy that is academically grounded, precisely executed, and informed by decades of scholarship, his work represents the standard.

Best for: Institutional commissions, academically significant Devanagari work, typography and communication design, Mumbai-based clients.

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Why Calligraphy in India Is Having Its Moment

In a world saturated with digital text, calligraphy has become the most human thing a letter can be. Indian artists are proving this on the world stage — at international biennales, luxury brand activations, and weddings that attract global attention. The country's deep tradition of diverse scripts — Devanagari, Nastaliq, Kannada, Arabic, Copperplate — gives its calligraphers a range that few other countries can match.

Demand is growing across every segment. Couples planning weddings want handcrafted wedding gifts and live calligraphy as an experience at the event itself. Brands want lettering that stands apart from generic typography. Individuals want a piece of handmade art that carries real meaning and will last. In all of these cases, a skilled calligraphy artist delivers something that no software can touch.

Finding a Calligraphy Artist Near You

Mumbai is the largest hub — home to Achyut Palav, Sanjana Chatlani, Chandan Mahimkar, and Dr. Santosh Kshirsagar, anchored by Sir JJ Institute's long tradition. Delhi has deep roots in both Islamic and Devanagari calligraphy, represented here by Shipra Rohatgi and Qamar Dagar. Bengaluru hosts Nikheel Aphale and Suresh Waghmore, both bringing design-school precision to their practice.

But location is rarely a barrier. Most commissions are handled entirely remotely — brief shared digitally, artwork delivered to your door. Whether you are in Pune, Jaipur, Kolkata, or commissioning from abroad as an NRI, the process is straightforward. Stoned Santa has been managing exactly these kinds of introductions since 2016. Talk to Shashank: +91 6201162515.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to Commission?

A decade in, 10,000+ clients, and a network of artists across India who are among the finest in the country at what they do. Stoned Santa knows these calligraphers — their strengths, their timelines, the commissions they are best suited for.

If you know what you want, reach out here and we will get it moving. If you are still figuring it out, tell us the occasion, the script, and a rough budget, and we will guide you from there. No pressure, no jargon.