Vallimalai Swamigal was a saint (b.1870) who was responsible for the spread of Tirrupugazh and was a disciple of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Once Bhagavan ordered him to go down to the foot of the Arunachala hill which order Vallimalai Swamigal complied with. At the foot of the hill, Sri Seshadri Swamigal, absorbed in Eternal Consciousness by embracing a buffalo, initiated Vallimalai Swamigal into Aatmatma Girijamati, one of the slokas composed by Sri Adi Shankara. He then told Vallimalai Swamigal to devote his life to the spread of Tirrupugazh.