Thread by @blog_supplement

A week back I read a 2 newspaper articles claiming the discovery of a vinAyakI image in TN. 1 showed no image while I wasn't sure the other image was what was discovered. Below confirms it. That image was small& partial by confirms it. Indeed, it would be first depiction of the

goddess mahAnAsA, a yoginI, or hastipishAchI (vinAyakI), the shakti of vinAyaka who in the early phase of the gANapatya tradition was shown with an elephant head. A convention preserved in Nepal (to a degree) & the Japanese cult of the god. manasataramgini.wordpress.com/2005/04/30/a-j…
While the 1500

years is a generic date on stylistic grounds we can assign the steles to the pallava apex period so could be at least 1400-1300 yrs old. We shall make the case for that below:
1. The waist band & the form resembles several pallava steles that have been recovered from pallava apex

2.The second stele in the group (left) is similar with respect to the form of the stele, headgear & lotus seat with a stele depicting a 4 armed deity identified as skanda (right) from Villupuram about 85 km away.

3. The same headgear and style of hold the conch/arms is seen in a pallavan durgA from the Vallam caves.

The 3rd deity has been identified with lakulIsha. While he seem to holds a club he is not ithyphallic suggesting that it is unlikely to be lakulIsha (confirmed by another published image with white powder). Instead, I'd propose that he's not shaiva at all but the saMkarShaNa.

Hence, I propose that the 2nd stele depicts aniruddha. The conch supports a vaiShNava affinity. The 2nd arm seems to sport a sword that is seen in an early south Indian depiction of aniruddha on the 1 of the most important image of the history of H religion: the Kondamotu stele