"What English mathematicians were most intrigued by and, at times, embarrassed about was the explanation Ramanujan offered regarding his methodology for arriving at solutions. A devout Hindu, Ramanujan claimed he derived most of his solutions with the help of the goddess Namgiri. He claimed that "an equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God," and the quantity 2n-1 stood for "the primordial God and several divinities." ...Ramanujan was unable to provide any explanation of his "methodology" in formal mathematical terms."