Tirumaligai Devar is the first among the nine devotees who sung the divine Tiruvisaippa, the ninth Tirumurai. He was born in the tradition of peasants practicing Shaivam. His ancestors living in Tiruvidaimarudur were the spiritual initiation guides, called Shaivarayar, for the Chozha kings. (It is also said that he came in the line of Shaivite priests.) His ancestors lived in a place called “maligai madam” and so he came to be known as Tiru Maligai Devar. It is said that he renounced worldly life, went to Tiruvavaduthurai and practiced austerity under an “arachu” (pipal) tree. Later he founded a monastery to the south of Tiruvavaduthurai and continued his worship of the Supreme. He received his jnana-upadesha (spiritual initiation into religious knowledge) from the Siddhar Bhoganathar. Due to his austerities, he had an attractive body. He had attained many miraculous powers (siddhi). He had inquired into and patronised Shaivam and Siddhanta. 

One day when he was returning after a bath in the river Kaviri with the holy water for anointing, flowers and offerings for the Lord's worship, people were bringing a dead body to the cemetery. To avoid the worship material from being made impure because of the dead-body, he threw them all in the sky, ordering them to stay there and commanded the dead body to walk to the cemetery. Later he took back the worship material and proceeded to worship God. When he was in Tiruvizhimizhalai, he made the temple chariot, which could not be pulled by the group of local people, to run automatically without even the rope to pull! His charming body, because of his austerities, attracted many women. Just by thinking about him, they gave birth to children who looked like him. People suspected this great yogi and complained about him to the local king Narachingan who was ruling the small state under the Pallava emperor Kadavarkon Kazharchingan (825 CE - 850 CE). The king Narachingan without analysing the facts sent his soldiers to capture the great yogi. But when they returned from his monastery, they all were seen catching hold of each other. Irked, the king came with his army. The saint, realising the king's intent, made the bulls on the walls of the Gomathishwara temple come  alive and drive away the army of the king!! He performed many other miracles like changing the stench that emanated from the burning bodies in the cemetery, drying the never-drying pot of Siddha Konganavar, planting and harvesting yield from boiled lentils (payatrany chundal) that he got as Shiva Prasadam (the food offered to God)!! He has sung four Tiruvisaippa padikams (ten-hymn songs) on the Dancing Lord of Tillai Chidambaram.

See Also:
1. Karuvur Devar
2. திருவிசைப்பா