The world’s biggest family: The man with 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren

The world’s biggest family: The man with 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren

Ziona Chana lives with all of them in a
100-room mansionHis wives take it in turns to share his bedIt takes 30
whole chickens just to make dinner. He is head of the world’s biggest
family – and says he is ‘blessed’ to have his 39 wives.

They live in a 100-room, four storey
house set amidst the hills of Baktwang village in the Indian state of
Mizoram, where the wives sleep in giant communal dormitories.



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You treat this place like a hotel: With
100 rooms the Ziona mansion is the biggest concrete structure in the
hilly village of Baktawng

The family is organised with almost military discipline, with the oldest wife Zathiangi organising her fellow partners to perform household chores such as cleaning, washing and preparing meals.

One evening meal can see them pluck 30 chickens, peel 132lb of potatoes and boil up to 220lb of rice.



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The wives and I: Mr Ziona Chana poses with his 39 wives at their home in Baktawang, Mizoram, India

He even married ten women in one year,
when he was at his most prolific, and enjoys his own double bed while
his wives have to make do with communal dormitories.

He keeps the youngest women near to his
bedroom with the older members of the family sleeping further away – and
there is a rotation system for who visits Mr Chana’s bedroom.



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Shared bedroom: A look inside the four-storey mansion, Chhuanthar Run – The House of the New Generation