Last week, I had the honour and pleasure of taking the Global Board of Directors, Compagnie de Saint Gobain, on a tour of Mamallapuram, organised by Saint Gobain India. Though the weather was at its Madras best — not a leaf stirring, humidity beyond description and the sea breeze playing truant — the maintenance of the monuments more than made up for these minor inconveniences. Everything was as it should be and kudos to the Archaeological Survey for what they do. The tour took in the so-called Five Rathas, the Arjuna Penance/Descent of the Ganges, the Govardhana panel, the Shore Temple and the free-standing boulder known as Krishna’s butter ball. All through my commentary, an inner voice kept saying that there was a French connection to the place that I was not speaking about, but, try as I might, I could not recollect what it was. A day later, back in my study, it all came back — I had forgotten to mention G Jouveau-Dubreuil, and his contribution to documenting Pallava antiquities.
Born in Saigon on January 1, 1885, and christened Gabriel, he came to Pondicherry in 1909 to teach Physics and Chemistry at the Colonial College there. But what he is remembered for today is archaeology and his writings on the subject, all of which he took on during a three-decade stay in India, interrupted by army service during the First World War. He went back to Paris at the end of the 1930s and passed away there on July 15, 1945.
Chronology of Pallava rock-cut temples
It was Mamallapuram that caught his fancy first and as he himself wrote, it was impossible to overlook the rock-cut wonders on the Madras Pondicherry Road. Realising that what was at the place had already been well-documented, he went on to research the chronology of Pallava rock-cut temples, not just in Mamallapuram but all over Tamil Nadu. His first documentation was in French and published as Archaeologie du Sud de l’Inde, at Paris in 1914. Two years later, the English version came out as Pallava Antiquities, Vol 1, published by Probsthain & Co, London. Interestingly, in the preface, Jouveau-Dubreuil also mentions a French version, published in July 1916.
The second volume, originally intended to be expansive, was cut short owing to the author being called for army service and came out in 1918, published in Pondicherry. The English text of both volumes was by V.S. Swaminadha Dikshitar, Officier d’Académie, Professor of English at the Colonial College, Pondicherry. In his preface to the second volume, Jouveau-Dubreuil draws attention to two more books/monographs of his — Dravidian Architecture (SPCK Press, Vepery, Madras 1917), and The Pallavas (Pondicherry, 1917). The latter, he says, is an attempt to “coordinate all that we know concerning the Pallavas with a view to establishing a complete genealogy of those kings and giving the outlines of their history.” Digital versions of these works exist and can be downloaded at archive.org
He left his imprint on Nagarjunakonda as well. Shortly after the discovery of the place was reported to the Madras government by locals in 1926, it was Jouveau-Dubreuil who first reached the spot. Organised digs were later taken up by the Government, with AH Longhurst leading the team.
The writings of Jouveau-Dubreuil , of which there is a sizeable corpus, are marked by a systematic approach making his explanations easy to understand for lay readers. Of value are the line drawings of architectural features not easily depicted in the photographic techniques of his time. In the history of research into the Pallava past, he remains an important milestone.
(V. Sriram is a writer and historian.)
