Queen of the Caucasus - Parikhan Khanum I and Her Three Husbands

Parikhan Khanom I, daughter of Shah Esmail never became so famous like her namesake and niece Parikhan Khanom bint Shah Tahmasb. Yet it was this daughter of Shah Esmail who played a crucial role in Safavid family policies towards the Caucasus. She was the widow of the last Shirvanshah Khalilullah and mother of one of the last contenders to the Shirvanshahis throne Burhan Ali Sultan. After Khalilullah's death she supported her brother Shah Tahmasb''s claim on Shrivan, was later on married to another Caucasian prince from Shaki and finally married Abdullah Khan UStajlu a powerful prince and in-law of the Safavis, whom she helped to expel a combined Ottoman Crimean Tatar military attack on Baku in the 1550. Her political life as a Safavi princess can at best be interpreted as that of an ambitious women who saw herself as the queen of Shirvan.