If am not wrong, we have numerous references of Muruga in Sangam literature. I believe Thirumurugaatrupadai is one of those. But according to you if Muruga worship had been started by Dravidiansin answer to Ganesha worship which in turn according to you had begun only after Pallava rule,its pretty confusing and lacks clarity. It would be great if you can elaborate on this.
Just had time to go through the attachment. Some observations:
1) Quote from article"
"There are two points to be noted. The earliest Pallava king, being a Zoroastrian, wanted to build a temple for the Sun on the Pyramid model.
He commissioned his sculptors (Persian, Greek and Indian of the Gandhara school) to build two sandstone temples, one for his queen, and the other for his clan. The queen’s temple (Kailasanatha temple) is still there as a heritage site and the other one was converted later on as Ekambareswarar temple.
The second point is that the Pallava kings wanted their sculptors to work on granite; and they succeeded. Mahamalipuram was an experimental station. From hereon. Sculpting on granite began."
Question: Are you suggesting that the Kailasantha temple and the ekambareshwara ( by the way what was the original structure which you are referring to and basis for that note) predate mallai granite excavations.
2) Quote from article"
*A crown resembling an elephant's head was issued by the early Pallava kings and is referred to in the Vaikunthaperumal temple sculptures at the time of Nandivarman Pallavamalla's ascent to the throne. A similiar crown was in use by the early Bactrian kings in the 2nd century BC and figures on the coins of Demetrius. It is presumed on this basis that there is some connection between the Pallavas of Kanchi and Bactrian kings. [5. Mysore Gazetteer, I. p.303-304; 6. ASR {Ann.Rep.ASI), 1906-1907, p.221 ]." (Minakshi 1977, p.4)*
Question: This is indeed an interesting hypothesis. We have tried many times to identify this particular panel - but not been able to locate. There are many panels with elephant motiffs in the temple - shown in profile, just the head etc etc. but we have not been able to find this particular elephant head gear panel. If someone can assist in providing the correct location of this panel, we can study it more clearly.
3)Quote from article"
When Vedic Hinduism wiped out Buddhism, and when the Indo-Aryans wanted their identity, and when Sun was worshipped as God’s first creation, the elephant was chosen as their symbol, integrating Buddhist and Jain traditions—kindness to animals and vegetarianism
Question: The dominant sculptures depicting this is actually Lion prancing over an elephant. This scene is replayed in many scuptures. Elephant chosen as a symbol ( well elephants were shown as mount of Indra and in some places of Muruga - but never as seperate worshipping idols - pure elephant i mean )
4) Quote from article"
The Dravidians also wanted their own identity; they created Muruga (the Sun in mgrigaseersham constellation) and called him the Tamil God. A Tamil name was also given..Pillai..the son of the creator. They were clever to describe Muruga as the younger brother of Ganapathy!!
Question: The worship of Muruga is very primitive and defn predates the inclusion of Ganesha in the Shiva family. Would request to provide basis for your hypothesis. No wiki links please !!