The brief was to make the museum – now one of the largest and most visited in the world in New Delhi – the custodian of the artistic, historical and archaeological fruits of the Indian subcontinent. Concept of National Museum of the cultures under the banner of Kalanjali was propounded in May 1946 when Maurice Gwyer Committee drafted a plan for a museum at national level in Delhi.

The impetus to found the Museum was provided by the Exhibition of Indian Art at Burlington House, London, in 1947–48, sponsored by the Royal Academy in collaboration with the Governments of India and Britain. In 1949, the collection was exhibited at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi, before the exhibits were sent back to their own museums. This exhibition was a great success and it inspired the formation of the National Museum.