The direct descendants of the British Army officer John Smith who had accidentally discovered the magnificent Ajanta caves in 1819 visited the iconic site today, first time in nearly two centuries.
Colonel (retd) Martin Smith, the great great grandson of John Smith, and his wife Margaret visited the architectural splendour near here in the district.
Ajanta Caves, among first to be put on the world heritage sites in India, include paintings and sculptures which are said to be the finest examples of Indian art. They are representative of Buddhist religious art with figures of the Buddha and depictions of the Jataka tales.
Terming the iconic site as "amazing and wonderful research" by his ancestor, Martin said, "I went to Ireland and learnt from my friends that my great great grandfather had discovered Ajanta caves, so I searched it on internet and was very happy to get it confirmed. We decided to visit this world-renowned caves as soon as it was confirmed".
The elderly couple was welcomed with the presentation of 'lazim', a traditional Maharashtrian dance form, Banjara dance and a performance on Mrudung, a percussion instrument.
Martin's 75-year-old wife Margaret also broke into jig on the occasion.
The couple lives in their family home in Norfolk, United Kingdom, and has been touring India.
The Caves are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE.
On 28 April 1819, John Smith, the Madras Presidency officer, accidentally discovered the entrance to Cave No. 10 deep within the tangled undergrowth while hunting a tiger, which led to the discovery of the showpiece Ajanta caves.
Meanwhile, Martin apologised for John's act of inscribing his name and date on the mural to mark the discovery. His act had resulted into minor damage to the 13th pillar at the caves.
"My forbearer joined British Army in the year 1811 and reached the rank of colonel. He had passion for hunting and was nicknamed as 'tiger' back home as he had hunted down 99 tigers. Notably, the caves were discovered by him only due to his hobby of hunting," Martin said.
He also expressed his gratitude for the traditional welcome.
Local MLA Abdul Sattar guided the couple at the site.
