Pillayarpatti, Appar's Ganapati and Thirumoolar's aanaimugan/nadhimagan.
The earliest Ganesa is the terrakota image excavated near Kurnool. Traditionally the Pallavas had their territory south of Krishna and North of Thenpennai. They moved upto Cauvery in Simhavishnu's time.
Now can a Ganapati found at Veerapuram near Kurnool be called a Pallava Ganapati? People may disagree..
But if a Ganapati is found in cauver delta datable to 4th or 5th C - will there be any doubt that he is a Ganapati of TN ?
TV Mahalingam conducted excavation in lower cauvery delta and found this terracota Ganapati at Azhagarai near Musiri. The attached article shows the details of the findings and the image.
Note: I read about this finding in an article by Michel Damino. I tried to find the article at various places but is not available anywhere. Our member Mr Raj Mutharasan sir located this in an American Library and sent to me. Thanks a lot sir.