Maryam Khanom Bani Isra'il (Persian: مریم خانم یهودی; fl. 1804) was the royal consort of shah Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar (r. 1789–1797) and then the thirty-ninth royal consort (slave concubine) of Agha Mohammad's nephew and successor Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797–1834).[1]
Life
She was from Māzandarān and of Jewish origin, and so is sometimes referred to as "Maryam Khanom Bani Isra'il" (Arabic: بني إسرائيل "sons - or children - of Israel") to distinguish her from Maryam Khanom Gorji, another consort of Fath-Ali.[2] She was reported to have "no rival in beauty".[3]
When she was widowed the first time, Hossein Khan Sardar, the brother of the new shah wished to marry her, but Fath-Ali instead married her himself, which caused a conflict between them.[3][4]
She had eleven children, among them prince Maḥmud Mirzā (1799–1835), Homāyun Mirzā (1801–1856) and Aḥmad-ʿAli Mirzā (born 1804).