Christian Man in India Feels 'Blessed' to Have 39 Wives, 94 Children (PHOTOS)
Ziona Chana Claims He Never Wanted to Get Married
Ziona Chana is the patriarch of what is likely the world's largest family, having 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren. A recent short documentary by CNN shows how everyday life works in this village-size family in Mizoram, India.
"I believe that God chose us to be like this," the patriarch, who is Christian, told CNN in a video interview published Friday. "Those who were born into this family, they don't want to leave, and they follow this tradition, so we just keep growing and growing."
"I never wanted to get married, but that's the path God has chosen for me," he also said. "It's not my wish to keep marrying again and again."
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The 160-strong family, which also includes Chana's 14-daughters-in-law, lives life in a 100-room, four-storey mansion in the village of Baktwang, in India's northeastern state of Mizoram.
It takes 30 chickens, one "giant" pig, 55 lbs of rice and 88 lbs of potatoes for every meal cooked for the entire family. The family grows its own crops and keeps its own livestock.
Chana first married at age 17, CNN reported. His oldest wife is 70, and the youngest is 31.
"Today I feel like God's special child. He's given me so many people to look after," Chana told The Sun, a British newspaper, in February. "I consider myself a lucky man to be the husband of 39 women and head of the world's largest family."
The 67-year-old Indian man, told the Daily Mail in February that he is "blessed" to have his 39 wives, who reportedly take turns in sharing their husband's bed.
The CNN reporter narrating the short documentary on the Chana family called it a "Christian sect."
In this overwhelmingly Hindu country (80.5 percent of the population), Christians are a minority, with 2.3 percent of the population practicing Christianity; after Muslims, who constitute 13.4 percent of the population, and before Sikhs at 1.9 percent, according to data from the U.S. Department of State.
The issue of whether or not polygamy is legal in India is a tricky one. It is theoretically prohibited across the country, except for Muslim families, to which Shariah law applies. In fact, according to The Times of India, the phenomenon of Hindu men converting to Islam in order to be able to take a second wife was so common, that the government proposed a law called "Preventing Bigamy via Conversion to Islam" in 2009.
The Hindu community is governed by the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, which prohibits polygamy and extra-judicial divorce.
However, at the same time, according to the data gathered by Emory School of Law on its website, India's constitution of 1949 "guarantees freedom to manage religious affairs for every recognised religious denomination or sect."
"The norm is for all religious communities to be governed by their own personal laws in family matters," the report on the website claims.
Curiously, in 2003, one state, Andhra Pradesh, passed legislation weakening its laws against bigamy.
