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11th Nov 2015

39 wives and counting: Meet the World’s biggest family

Katie Mythen-Lynch

Ever wished you had a little more help around the house?

Meet the world’s largest family, 71-year-old Ziona, his 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren, who all live under one roof in Baktawng village, Mizoram, India.

Ziona is a head of Pu Chana páwl, a Christian pro-polygamy sect known as ‘Chana’.

At the age of 17, he married Zathiangi, his first wife (three years his senior) who now controls the household. Since then, Ziona has married 38 more times, most recently wedding his youngest wife Madam Siamthangi, who is 33.

All 180 family members live together in a four storey, 100-room home, where they are completely self-sufficient. They do not claim any government assistance, grow all their own food and educate the children in the family at a special school run by Ziona’s brother.

house

The day starts at 5.30am, with the wives in the family taking care of the cooking, the daughters tackling the cleaning and the men and boys attend to the livestock, crops, utensil and furniture making and various other cottage industries.

Dinner is served by age between 4pm and 6pm, where 100kg of rice, 60kg of potatoes and 39 chickens are consumed nightly.

It’s lights out at 9pm, which is no surprise: Ziona needs his sleep. The man of the house shares his double bed in the ground floor with his 39 wives taking turns to sleep with him according to a roster.

What do you think: would more hands make for lighter work? Would you happily share your other half in exchange for having your laundry done? Let us know on Twitter @HerFamilydotie. 

 

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big family,news