Man with 39 wives and 94 children tops Ripley’s list

Man with 39 wives and 94 children tops Ripley’s list
www.hindustantimes.com...

Not everybody makes it to the top of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! But the ‘man with the most wives on earth’ would have preferred not to be on the ‘strangest story’ list.

Considered to be an authority on all things odd, amazing and unusual, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! published the
annual list of the strangest stories of 2011 on Thursday. The story of Zionnghaka Chana, 67, topped it among 11 stories from across the world.

“Nice to get the spotlight, but there’s nothing strange about my marriages or my large family,” Zionnghaka said from Baktawng, a village 100 km north of Mizoram capital Aizawl. “Our faith allows us to marry as many women as possible, and I had married 10 in a single year.”

Zionnghaka, a farmer with an engineering background, has 39 wives — his first wife at 17 is three years older to him — 94 children, 33 grandchildren and 14 daughters-in-law. His 181-member family lives in a 100-room, four-storey house. Each member has a specific duty, making the family self-sufficient. But, admits Zionnghaka, he is nowhere near his father Challianchana who died in 1997. Challianchana had 50 wives and more than 100 children, and had founded the Christian Channa or Lalpa Kohhran cult after falling out with the church for its stand against polygamy.

The cult claims to have more than 4,000 members across four generations.

According to a cult member, Challianchana and his brother severed ties with the church after Welsh missionaries opposed the Mizo practice of worshipping a traditional drum called Khuang.

The Ripley’s recognition hasn’t amused church leaders either. “Christianity does not allow polygamy and hence accepting the Channa cult as Christian does not arise at all," said a Presbyterian Synod elder.

Personally, I can't imagine the time and work involved with 39 wives and 94 children.

When I hear so much about overpopulation, it's hard to see this as a positive story.

While beliefs and customs vary depending on culture, we all need to take a serious look

at how those beliefs and customs effect the world.

Pretty alpha.

reply to post by isyeye


I admit hes one lucky guy to have more wives than the days of the month, but 94 kids, someone tie this guys sack.

That's pretty impressive.

I don't believe overpopulation will ever become an issue. We can always build up. Buildings can get bigger, farms can build up instead of out, and we could always use an excuse for more public transportation.

Now there is a man with more reason to fear the very mention of divorce attorney than anyone I've ever heard of. Lol.. the monthly child support alone would tax a city budget!

I can't fault the man for persistence though. Wow... He took that whole 'Be fruitful and multiply' part a little too seriously, ya think?

Great story though. I love Ripley's stuff and this sure fits as a tale to shake my head over. Perfect for a Ripley museum, indeed.

How could you possibly call that marraige? What kind of idiot woman would share her husband with that many women? Insane!

reply to post by Adyta


Population is going up exponentially and ressources are limited. There's a deadline, the question is when?

reply to post by isyeye


I understand that the Christian Empire doesn't allow polygamy, but where might this "law" be from? Certainly it is not from the scriptures.

reply to post by isyeye


Sadly Ripley's believe it or not was never quite honest about his reporting. Things like "Einstein flunking math" were reported by Ripley, and are now even included in history books, even though there is no truth to the claim.

The truth:

Einstein was a mathematical prodigy, and before he was 12, he was already better at arithmetic and calculus than you are now. Einstein was in fact so smart that he believed school was holding him back, and his parents purchased advanced textbooks for him to study from. Not only did he pass math with flying colors, it's entirely possible that he was actually teaching the class by the end of semester.

There's actually a good reason why it's a bad idea to include Robert Ripley among the references in your advanced university thesis. The famous bizarre trivia "expert" never cited his sources, and the various "facts" he presented throughout his career were an amalgamation of things he thought he read somewhere, heard from somebody, or pulled out of his ass. The feature's title probably should have been: Believe it or Not! I Get Paid Either Way, A Holes

reply to post by Night Star


I'm sure that anyone who gives themselves to another to be joined by the deepest act of communion animals can share is fairly happy. More so, calling such a person an idiot lacks any sense of class or respect. You are free to express your own views in your own life, but to demean a woman for acting as she so desires is simply hypocritical to the very principle on which you stand, but do not fathom. Likewise, to make a judgment without good observation of what is real is plainly not a good judgment. If you do not judge well, it is because you do not observe well. Why you do not observe well is for you to come to understand by growing in wisdom.

another way of looking at this:

there are 40 adults, if you make them into couples they would make 20 couples.

94 kids between 20 couples would work out to 14 couples with 5 kids and 6 couples with 4 kids.
whilst that still might be some peoples idea of to many kids, it is not as bad as it first appears if you take into account how many adults are involved in this relationship.

i also suspect there may be more involved that HE is NOT aware of, keeping 39 women satisfied all of the time is surely to much without leaving a few out, so i would suspect some may of played away now and then, and he assumes they are all his kids.

reply to post by lifeform11


Yes, this is a far more fair way to assess the numbers rather than letting ourselves become agitated by the simple totals listed. More so, let this perspective cause us to also consider the level of cooperation and community that a home such as this must enjoy. Obviously it would not be without it's own set of problems, but logistically, economically, socially, if a group of people are content to build such a large home, then may they be blessed for it. And whether a person has 1 child or 100, if they poison our culture with arrogance or ignorance, may they reap what they have sown quickly so that they can be moved out of the way for civilized men and women to flourish.

Different people jave different views. There was nommention of abuse, so who cares what they do? Seems he can support them. Seems to me like cultural differences that people are using to judge people, again. They self sustain themselves? Sounds to me like survival. If my family and i could band together and sustain ourselves. I would do it. Because that would be my cure for our government. We cant judge because we dont know them, their cultures, or their aituation.

Love and Light

reply to post by CharonIncarnate


You're speaking of wonderful and powerful things.
Maybe the veil of false liberty will be lifted for a while.
But as you said, so long as there is no abuse (or lies).

Originally posted by MrMaybeNot
Population is going up exponentially and ressources are limited. There's a deadline, the question is when?

Vital resources are not limited. Food, water, and oxygen will always be available even when we hit 500+ billion people. By the time population becomes a serious, no-# issue (to those other than fear mongering "the sky is falling" types), technology will be far more advanced than it is today. Farms will be built up to grow 100 acres of food on 1 acre of land, energy will be renewable and not primitive like it is today. Hell, we may even be on other planets by then joking about how we all thought population was even an issue.

You may think I'm talking out my ass, but if someone described a cell phone 100 years ago they'd have laughed at him too.

Originally posted by Dasher
reply to post by Night Star

 

I'm sure that anyone who gives themselves to another to be joined by the deepest act of communion animals can share is fairly happy. More so, calling such a person an idiot lacks any sense of class or respect. You are free to express your own views in your own life, but to demean a woman for acting as she so desires is simply hypocritical to the very principle on which you stand, but do not fathom. Likewise, to make a judgment without good observation of what is real is plainly not a good judgment. If you do not judge well, it is because you do not observe well. Why you do not observe well is for you to come to understand by growing in wisdom.

My thoughts and opinions matter just as much as anyone elses here. My husband and I have been married and dedicated to each other and no one else for 32 years. I prefer our lifestyle to that of a harem. I have more class and respect than you know when it is deserved.

reply to post by isyeye


OK, and where do I send flower's, to his many victims?

Originally posted by Night Star
How could you possibly call that marraige? What kind of idiot woman would share her husband with that many women? Insane!

He can provide.

reply to post by CALGARIAN


He can provide quality relationships with all those wives and children? You think that is possible? Surely someone is being neglected somewhere down the line.

Originally posted by Night Star
My thoughts and opinions matter just as much as anyone elses here.

I did not say your thoughts and opinions did not matter. In fact, they are useful to bring to light common misunderstandings held regarding non-western cultures. I specifically said, "... calling such a person an idiot lacks any sense of class or respect." And I stand by my delineation of your attack against these women as not in good (complete, considerate, gracious, justified, etc) judgment.

I also said, "... to demean a woman for acting as she so desires is simply hypocritical to the very principle on which you stand, but do not fathom." You have brushed aside a different culture as beneath you, as immoral, etc, while calling that same culture "insane" and "idiotic." You are clearly missing the entire point of communing together as a species for each person's betterment. If you see these women as so broken, build them up instead of tearing them down. If this man tore down his mates, even in the small way you have done, why would so many continue to join themselves to him? In this matter, you appear to be the one fostering abuse, not the family you have cast away.

Originally posted by Night Star
My husband and I have been married and dedicated to each other and no one else for 32 years.

Congrats. I admire your conduct in this fact. However, I value the honesty of it over the pious declaration of righteousness.

Originally posted by Night Star
I prefer our lifestyle to that of a harem.

And I honor honesty, respect, communion, and understanding over ignorant and vulgar categorizations of other cultures. Also, the fact that you sexualized your vulgarity shows a gross misunderstanding of human-animal conduct regarding mating.

Originally posted by Night Star
I have more class and respect than you know when it is deserved.

I did not say that you were not capable of great class and respect, but it was your conduct that has exposed your inability to express such things in and by a stable and civil pattern. Please reconsider what it means for a family to grow and be healthy. Our modern western culture, certainly, does not have a reputation that can support such a decaying moral code so as to be teachers to those who practice the ancient ways.
But, that is not to justify blind conduct of any form, modern or ancient.