Pandit Ajay Pohankar was born in a respected and educated family in Jabalpur on 24th February 1947. He started his training at the age of 5 under the guidance of his mother Dr. Susheela Pohankar, renowned scholar, musicologist & Kirana Gharana vocalist. He was introduced to the North Indian.classical world as a star child prodigy at the age of 10 by none other than USTAD AMIR KHAN SAHEB in 1958. He went on to sing some of the most prestigious classical festivals at that tender age, namely Sawai Gandharva Music Festival, Calcutta Conference, and many more prestigious festivals of India, and was claimed as one of the most amazing child prodigies of the era by veterans like Ustad Amir Khan Sahib, Ustad Salamat-Nazakat Ali Khan, Hirabai Badodekar, Begum Akhtar and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and other legends of that era.