VARANASI (Uttar Pradesh) • It is said that the late Bismillah Khan, the foremost exponent of the shehnai woodwind instrument popular around South Asia, was once offered a position as musician-in-residence at a prestigious American university.

He hailed from a family of Muslim musicians whose services were employed by the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, one of the biggest Hindu shrines in north India, and his music was a part of the syncretic fibre of this ancient city situated on the west bank of the Ganges River, which is sacred to Hindus.