New Delhi, March 24 -- In 1982, the English theatre and film director Peter Brook met the chief of a village in Purulia, West Bengal, while he was touring India in preparation for his 9-hour play based on the epic Mahabharata. With Brook was Jean-Claude Carriere, who co-wrote the text of the French play that opened in Paris in 1985, as well as the script of the English movie when it was adapted for the screen in 1989. In attendance were also co-writer Marie-Helene Estienne and Toshi Tsuchitori, the Japanese musician who created the score for the production, using hauntingly beautiful tracks of Rabindra Sangeet sung by the Paris-based singer Sarmila Ray, among other pieces. Also with the group were a couple of Bengali anthropologists, acting as interpreters....