Meet The World's Biggest Family: 193 Members! - YouTube

Hey Thoughty2 here.

Gentlemen, I have a question for you, how many wives do you think you could handle?

Surely one is enough.

Well according to many, no.

Polygamy is legal and commonly practiced in many countries throughout Africa, the Middle-East

and South-East Asia.

But for one man, becoming betrothed to even two or three different women isn’t sufficient.

A man known simply as Ziona has a grand total of 39 wives and he is the head of the world’s

largest family.

Astonishingly he also has 94 children and 33 grandchildren.

This enormous family lives in Baktawng village in Northeast India.

This quirky village is built up a hillside, hundreds of miles from anywhere.

And at its heart sits a bright purple castle called "Chhuan Thar Run" which means the “House

of the New Generation”.

This purple monstrosity is home to all 193 members of the Ziona family.

Now aged 72, Ziona married his first wife at the humble age of 15 in 1959.

Since then he has added a new woman to his bridal harem, every one and a half years,

on average.

And in one year he married 10 women!

So do all 39 wives sleep in one gigantic bed with their man?

As cosy as that sounds, it’s actually a rather cold arrangement.

His wives are resigned to sleeping in large communal dorms.

The youngest women sleep closest to Ziona’s bedroom, the older women sleep in a dorm further

away.

As for Ziona’s bed, well he only has room for one woman at a time, so how does he decide

who gets to share his almighty presence each night?

The women are on a rotation and reportedly, the female who is chosen for duty that night,

will find a pillow missing from her own bed.

The romance is strong with this one.

Mealtimes are a highly regimented affair.

All 39 wives must muck in each night to provide a feast of truly grand proportions.

Every night the wives must pluck and prepare 30 chickens, peel 60kg of potatoes and cook

over 100kg of rice.

Schooling is somewhat of an issue, because the local village school is not large enough

to accommodate the vast army of children belonging to the Ziona family.

The solution?

Ziona built his own school exclusively for his 94 children and ever resourceful, the

eldest children in the family are the teachers.

But it doesn’t end at education.

Ziona’s sons and daughters also form the local football league, making up several different

teams, and they compete against each other regularly.

Ziona’s wives take turns in waiting hand and foot on their husband.

At least eight women will serve him each day.

Strangely all the women get along, they all have love and a mutual respect of each other.

Not only is this a large family, but a fully-functioning sweat shop, to put it crudely.

Ziona is a wealthy man because his family manufactures and sells furniture, hundreds

of pieces of it each year.

Their purple mansion consists of several carpentry workshops and all of the family members who

are old enough work for the family business.

But here’s the thing, in India polygamy IS illegal.

However, in these remote tribal lands of India it is permitted for local religions to set

their own laws in regards to certain things including polygamy.

Conveniently Ziona happens to have his own religion – I know, what are the chances?

And amazingly his religion happens to make polygamy legal for all who follow it.

Ziona is head of the religion, which is actually a Christian sect known as “Chana Pawl”.

The entire family prays daily.

And Ziona himself is granted almost godlike status within the village.

Women in the community feel as though it’s an honour to be wed to the man, which explains

why he has so many wives.

So let’s be realistic here, Ziona has basically created a cult with a very loyal following,

with the goal of perpetuating his multi-wife fantasies.

There’s got to be easier ways to be a player, I mean this guy’s obviously never heard

of Tinder.

Thanks for watching.