Surely it has already been speculated that the practice of familial transmission of scientific knowledge could have descended ideas about Pi through a geopolitical (georeligious?) spacetime web from Madhava to Ramanujan, especially considering the small distance between Kerala and Kumbakonam. Undoubtedly this would be a difficult evolutionary process to trace (impossible if oral histories are the only evidence and lost). I am currently searching for references or anecdotes. Are any already known to the funsters? see also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lseuvdal5t8 --Brad