The country's new textbooks, says Mr Wahidyar, still explain Islamic beliefs and practices, such as how to pray and how to perform ablutions.
As it passes Mr Mishra's temple, at the upstream end of Varanasi's 6.5km (4 mile) stretch of terraced riverbank, or ghats, the Ganges contains 60,000 bacteria per 100ml.Downstream of the ghats, where 60,000 devotees perform daily ablutions in the river and 32 streams of raw sewage empty into it, the figure rises to 1.5m.
At the call to prayer, trousers were rolled up, ablutions taken and the genuflecting began all organised by the Hizmet, which holds similar events in Africa and Asia.
I won't bore you with more details.It occurred to me as I awoke to the sound of my neighbour's ablutions that this was another sign of progress: I needed protection against sound more than I needed protection against bullets.
Even the ablutions are upwardly mobile: "The showers seem to get busier and more high-tech every year.
Shiny steel taps with plastic stools for ablutions clutter a once-verdant garden filled with ancient sculptures.Mazhar Yildirimhan of the Pious Foundations Directorate's office in Trabzon shrugs off complaints as propaganda.
There is no paving, scant electricity and so little lighting, no sanitation; people have to pay even to use the rare communal lavatories that often overflow or to take a shower, so their ablutions often take place on sidewalks riven with makeshift drains.
Elements in all the ceremonies were very similar and included ritual ablutions to prepare the priests for the contact; offerings and sacrifices to gain the gods' favour; and theatrical dramas of myths by masked performers in the form of dances, songs, and processionals.
Surrounding the inner sanctuary, the Court of Priests contained the sacrificial altar and a copper laver for priestly ablutions.
A huge bronze bowl, or "sea," in the courtyard was used for the priests' ablutions.
In the centre of the eastern square stood the altar of sacrifice for burnt offerings; nearby stood a basin holding water used by the priests for ritual ablutions.
