London: A new controversial analysis by an astronomer of Indian origin has suggested that the Big Bang might not have come at the beginning of the Universe, but after a long and slow period of shrinkage. According to a report in Nature News, the theory has been put forward by Amit Yadav, an astronomer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. If this theory holds any ground, it would show that the early universe did not inflate with the smoothness that many theorists expected. "The standard, canonical models will be ruled out if this holds,' said Yadav. "The simplicity is gone,' he added. Yadav's result suggests that models of inflation