Siva Parameswaran, World News Editor
“India has lost a ‘tourist attraction”-that’s how Zoramthanga the Chief Minister of India’s Northeast state of Mizoram described the death of Ziona Chana (76) the man believed to head the world’s largest family.
Ziona Chana is said to have had 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren and a great grandchild. His village and the place he lived was a tourist attraction with thousands of locals and foreigners visiting them only to be overawed by the joint family and his sustainability in maintaining the family.
Taking to twitter, the CM while paying tributes to him said, “ Mizoram and his village at Baktawng Tlangnuam has become a major tourist attraction in the state because of his family- RIP Sir!”.
While polygamy is officially banned in India, certain tribal sects are exempted from it.
Ziona was the leader of a Christian sect, called Chana pawl, which allowed its male members to be polygamous. Some 400 families are said to be its adherents.
Under one roof
The huge family live in a 100 room four story building nestled amidst the serene Mizo hills which is part of the Rakhine mountainous range.
His family featured in “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” in its top 10 strangest stories a decade back.
Journalists and tourists who visited him and his family describe say, “It looks like a college mess or a social canteen” when they assemble for dinner. Cooking has been a joint endeavor with all the women pitching in their bit.
It’s a common kitchen where on an average 100 Kgs of rice, 60 Kgs of potato and at least 40 chickens are cooked a day. The kitchen is only briefly shut.
Cooking for the family has never been an issue for them according to Thlengi Livana the eldest daughter-in-law.
“It is a joint effort and a happy way of living”.
‘Happy living’
Visitors are astonished on seeing the bonhomie between the 39 wives who all say ‘it’s Ok and we have our own time and space’.
While the women are involved in cooking, household chores and farming, all the male members in the family are involved in carpentry and have a workshop too.
“Remembering names, dates and anniversaries have never been a problem for us-it’s just like remembering your friends name” says Nunparli Liana the eldest son who is expected to take the family leadership in a strictly partriarchail society that prevails in Mizoram.
And, one thing which keeps the family hale and healthy is football.
The post The man who headed the ‘World’s largest family’ is dead first appeared on The African Gazette.