He is 67 years old and has the largest family in the world…
For most, a wedding and children are a logical step on the path of life. The decision may not be easy, but the endless reward will be your own family and their love.
All over the world, marriages are performed in absolutely different ways. In some countries, the future husband and wife do not see each other until the very day of the wedding. In some cultures, men are allowed to have more than one wife. It all depends on what you believe in.
Faith led this man from India to a very unusual choice. His name is Ziona. He is 67 years old and has the largest family in the world…
For most people, marriage is hard work, despite the fact that they are married to only one person. For a man from a small Indian village, marriage is so easy and simple that he cannot stop. He has 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren!
His name is Ziona. His huge family lives under one roof! He was born in 1945 and grew up in an unusual family: his father was the founder of the religious organization “Chana Pawl”.
This organization was founded in 1942. Today it has more than two thousand followers. They are known for their woodwork skills, but even more so for the fact that they are allowed to be polygamous.
They take polygamy very seriously, and Ziona and his wives set a great example for everyone. In the past year alone, he has married more than ten women! No one forced them into this marriage. On the contrary, many are happy to accept his offer, because they grew up in poor families.
Although their relationship is a little unusual, Ziona met with each of his wives like everyone else. One of his wives says he proposed to her after he saw her in the village one day.
“He is the most charming person in the village,” the woman says.
At the age of 67, Ziona became famous due to the fact that his entire world’s largest family lives under one roof. Just look at this photo, it’s hard to believe!
For many, even the thought of having to raise so many children and look after them drives them crazy. But Ziona is not afraid of this.
“I feel like a special son of God. He gave me so many people that I can take care of!” the man says.
“I consider myself very lucky to be the husband of 39 wives and to be the head of the world’s largest family,” he continues.
At the same time, such a family is a real challenge, and military tactics have to be used to maintain order.
Ziona relies on the help of his first wife. Every day she gives each wife a certain task around the house. The woman is 70 years old, but she is full of energy and busy with something all the time. So no one is out of work.
Since the family is huge, everyone gets up very early. The day begins with prayer, and no later than 6a.m. everyone gets to work. And so every day. Everyone works all day with breaks. Everything is like in an ordinary family.
Can you imagine what it costs to cook food for such a company! At one time, the family eats almost 45 kilograms of rice, 20 kilograms of vegetables and 35 kilograms of meat.
When the family is so huge, an ordinary house will not do. Ziona built a house on the mountainside, in which there is enough space for everyone. It has more than a hundred rooms, including huge dormitories for all his wives.
Women sleep together in huge rooms. But the head of the family has his own room with a large bed. Wives live with him in turns, sharing a room and a bed with their husband for a week in a row. It sounds strange, but women say they are not jealous of each other.
“Every wife spends a week in Ziona’s room, taking care of him at this time,” says his eighteenth wife. “Even those who have already gone through menopause. After all, they also need love!”
To make life easier for himself, Ziona placed the younger wives in the bedroom closer to his room, while the older ones live further away. It feels like discrimination, but Ziona insists that all his wives love and respect each other.
Older women, who can no longer bear children, nurse the babies of younger wives. The family is constantly growing, so it’s wonderful that they take care of each other.
“We don’t need doctors and nurses during childbirth,” says Ziona’s son with pride. “Our women have enough experience, and none of them suffered from complications during or after childbirth”.
The family is proud of its self-sufficiency. They grow their own food, they work on the farm themselves. They even have their own school where the children get a proper education.
One would assume that Ziona would finally stop. But although he is 67, the man does not exclude the possibility of adding more wives and children to his huge family.
“I would even go to America to get married and make my family bigger,” he says.
At the moment, he has not announced who will manage everything after he is gone. Probably, his family union will be able to survive the loss of the patriarch and will continue to live with faith and harmony even after he leaves this world.
Maybe this choice of Ziona will seem inconvenient to someone. But he doesn’t care much about it, because his huge family is happy!
