Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah (7 November 1949 – 1 June 2001) was the Queen of Nepal from 1972 to 2001 also referred as Bada Maharani. She was the wife and the second cousin of King Birendra and the mother of Crown Prince Dipendra, Prince Nirajan, and Princess Shruti. She was the eldest among the three daughters of late General Kendra Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana and Shree Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah in Lazimpat Durbar, Lazimpat, Kathmandu.

She was celebrated as a woman of classical beauty. Her ways of dressing and hairstyles are still famous among Nepalese women.

She had her school education in St Helen's Convent of Kurseong, India and St Mary's of Jawalakhel. She passed S.L.C. from Kanti Ishwari Rajya Laxmi High School in 1963. She was enrolled in Tribhuvan University affiliated Padmakanya College and graduated in Arts in 1967.

She was from the Rana family which had ruled Nepal for 104 years, being the eldest daughter of General Kendra Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana (1921–1982) and his wife Shree Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah (1928–2005). After her death, her younger sister became Queen consort of Nepal. Her family had been the effective rulers of Nepal until the 1950s and she was ever conscious of this fact. In 1970, she married Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, then Crown Prince of Nepal (and her second cousin).

Aishwarya's youngest sister Prekshya also married into the Shah dynasty marrying Gyanendra and Birendra's brother Prince Dhirendra who was killed in the palace massacre. They divorced in the 1980s. Princess Prekshya was killed in a helicopter crash on 12 November 2001.

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