An intimate peek into the life of Ziona Chana and his 175+ strong family in Mizoram, India.
An hours' drive away from Aizawl - the capital city of Mizoram, is Tlangnuam Baktawng village which houses about 300 families and 2000 followers of the Christian denomination known as the 'Lalramkawngpuizawhtu'. Under this sect, a man is allowed to have more than one wife or solemnize plural marriages on the basis of mutual consent, understanding, respect for each other and most of all -- love. The principle of 'Lalramkanwgpuizawhtu' bears a similarity with Mormon fundamentalism or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The term 'Lalramkawngpuizawhtu' in the local Mizo dialect means 'The followers of God' and their place of worship is called 'Hnamthlanrunpui'. The head of this Christian sect is, a 69 year old practicing polygamist, surrounded by a gaggle of women round the clock. According to sources and family members, Ziona has 39 wives, 86 children, 14 daughters in-law and 34 grand-children all living under one roof in a huge mansion which they lovingly call 'Chhuanthar Run' meaning 'House of the new generation'. All together, the 174 members of the Ziona family live in Chhuanthar Run or in short (C.T.R), a rather military-like fashion.
Chhuanthar Run is a huge four-floor building with 22 rooms. Once you step into the house,the kitchen to the left and a large spacious drawing-cum-dining room await you on the second level. While the married sons sleep in separate rooms attached to each other on the third floor, there is a dormitory exclusively for Ziona's eldest son. Ziona has his own plush and lavishly decorated room on the second floor. The younger wives sleep in a dormitory right next to Ziona while the older wives sleep farther away. The wives take turns to visit him when they are summoned.
Ziona owns Tlangnuam Baktawng village, Chhuanthar Stadium, Chhuanthar primary school, Chhuanthar High school, poultry farms, piggeries and vegetable gardens but the bulk of his income comes from his profitable furniture business, for at the end of the day, Ziona is a carpenter. From building a simple house to building the roads in the village, Ziona is the mastermind. He leads full days from early morning to nightfall, working at his businesses, his belief and religious system, for his fellow villagers and for his family. One day he is involved with building the village road and the other day he gets occupied at his carpentry workshop.
The family has three major furniture workshops and whatever profits they yield are handed over to Ziona. They readily share their hard-earned money with the head of the family as it is for the joint maintenance and benefit of the family as a whole. The furniture products are supplied to nearby towns, the main market being Aizawl itself. Meanwhile, the womenfolk of Ziona's family are occupied with rearing pigs, which are the source of a major portion of the family's earnings. Ziona's family eats the vegetables that they grow. The plantations include spinach, cabbage, mustard, chilly and broccoli using natural and pig-based manure. The family normally consumes 50 kilograms of rice for lunch and 40 kilograms for dinner, altogether using 90 kilograms per day.
The Photo session: Gathering the largest family in the world together to take a group photograph is a difficult task because they are all scattered across the town as they take charge of their given duties and responsibilities. This morning, we wait for the entire family to turn up for the photo-shoot. And just as we planned, after the morning church session gets over, the members of the world's largest family appear one by one. In less than a few minutes, Ziona and his family are ready to say 'cheese' to the camera. And once you see the whole family together, one just wonders how Ziona manages to keep his entire family as one unit.
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com
