In the Ramayana Lord Rama prayed to Surya for strength before the fight with Ravana, using a murti. Lord Rama is Narayana himself, so if God prohibited idols, why was he ok with it?But you provide no evidence.
I think you are twisting the word to fit with your new gen beliefs.
Real Hinduism beliefs have remenance of the teachings of the Qur'an and Islam.
Idols have existed time immemorial, pretty long ago obviously.
But they were false teachings and were never existing in Hinduism always.