His elder brother T. M. Bhaskara Thondaman, a member of the Indian Civil Service was also a noted author.

He worked as a sub-editor in Dina Mani briefly in 1944 and later joined the literary journal Mullai in 1946.

The magazine introduced many young writers to the world including – Daniel Selvaraj, Sundara Ramasami, Jayakanthan and Ki.

After Pudhumaipithan's death in 1948, Ragunathan collected and published many of his works.

It was a follow-up to his 1951 biography and a detailed defence of Pudhumaipithan against the allegations of plagiarism levelled by his contemporaries like P. G. Sundararajan.

He belonged to the socialist-realist school of writers and his political orientation was socialist.

Cotton and hunger) which describes the plight of handloom weavers in Tamil Nadu.

In his literary career, he produced four short story anthologies, three novels, three poetry collections, two plays and one biography, besides his non-fiction (research and critical) works.