Aizawl, Feb 20 : Believe it or not, a man in Mizoram has 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren -- all living together under one roof in a picturesque village about 100 km from Baktawng in the north of the state.
The head of the family and leader of the "Chana" sect -- which allows polygamy -- is 66-year-old Ziona Chana who lives with his family in a 100-room, four-storyed house named 'Chhuan That Run' or the House of the New Generation, reports PTI.
Though all of Ziona's family members live in different rooms in the building, they all share the kitchen where they cook for the entire family.
"Today I feel like God's special child. He's given me so many people to look after. I consider myself a lucky man to be the husband of 39 women and head of the world's largest family," says Ziona.
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.
Chana 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 Chana's bedroom.
Rinkmini, one of Chana's wives who is 35 years old, said: 'We stay around him as he is the most important person in the house. He is the most handsome person in the village. She says Chana noticed her on a morning walk in the village 18 years ago and wrote her a letter asking for her hand in marriage.
Another of his wives, Huntharnghanki, said the entire family gets along well.
The family system is reportedly based on 'mutual love and respect' And Chana, whose religious sect has 4,00 members, says he has not stopped looking for new wives.
'To expand my sect, I am willing to go even to the U.S. to marry,' he said. One of his sons insisted that Chana, whose grandfather also had many wives, marries the poor women from the village so he can look after them.
