Born in Czechslovaika, educated in Prague and London, Milada's destiny brought her to India and took her to the land of the Nagas. IGNCA was intertwined in this enchanting story. The result is the rich collection of Naga Art in the Archives of IGNCA. Milada Ganguly came to India as the wife of Bengali writer Mohanllal Ganguli, who was a close relative of Rabindranath Tagore. She reached India in 1939 and got interested in learning about the rural customs and traditions. Before long, she found herself attracted to the Adivasis. Her earliest opportunity to visit the areas inhabited by the Nagas came in 1963. She was escorted by a convoy of 120 military trucks during a stay of one week. Such was the level of political disturbance. A year later, when a political settlement had been reached, and a new state of Nagaland had been created, she visited the state for a month's stay.
Her eager and frank interaction with the Adivasis endeared her to them all. They opened their homes to her and revealed many of their sacred object and customs to her. Between the years 1963 and 1988, she visited the state 18 times and systematically documented her collections from every visit. She also accumulated information about them for documentation.
