The village of Baktawng, in India’s north-eastern state of Mizoram, is home to the world’s largest known family, 199 people who live under the same roof in a giant building.

Pu Ziona was the patriarch of what was generally regarded as the world’s largest family – 38 wives, 89 children, and 36 children. Ziona passed away in 2021, at the age of 76, due to health complications caused by hypertension and diabetes, but his family continues to live under the same roof in the impressive living complex Ziona built in the hills of Baktawng. Some of his children got wives of their own, some more than one, and the family member count now stands at 199. They all gather in the great hall of their home twice a day to eat, in a scene that looks more like a busy canteen than a family dining room. The members share everything, from the daily workload to the food and finances, and even though everyone wants to carry on the legacy of Pu Ziona, things are changing for the world’s largest family…

Other members of the family are open to sending their children to places where they might get a better education and improve their chances of being successful in life, and there is currently another house being built in the village for the growing family, so the days of them living under one roof are numbered. Still, the novelty of the unusual arrangement still attracts an impressive number of tourists to the remote village of Baktawng.

Even nearly two years after his passing, Pu Ziona’s legacy can be felt within his community. Pictures and painted portraits of him still decorate the family of his family home, and the values he professed are carried on by his descendants.

[Source: ODDITY CENTRAL]