Singh of Attári, one of the noblest and best of the Sikhs. He was killed at Sobráon. He had denounced the war with the English, and well foresaw what its termination must be. But he resolved to fight for the Khálsa, and on the night before Sobráon he swore on the Granth never to leave the field defeated. In the morning he dressed himself in white and, having mounted his white mare, addressed his men, begging them, as true sons of the Khálsa, to die rather than yield. During the first part of the battle he was everywhere present, urging the Sikhs to fight bravely; and it was not till he saw that all was lost that he spurred forward against the 50th Regiment, waving his sword and calling on his men to follow him. Some fifty of them obeyed the call, but were driven into the river Sutlej, and Shám Singh fell dead from his horse, pierced with seven bullets. After the battle his servants begged permission to search for his body. The old Sirdár, conspicuous by his white dress and long white beard, was discovered where the dead lay thickest. His servants placed the body on a raft and swam with it across the river; but it was not till the third day that it reached his home at Attári. His widow, who knew his resolution not to survive defeat, had already burnt herself with the clothes which the Sirdár had worn on his wedding day. This was the last Satí in the Punjab, and the pillar which marks the spot where it took place is still standing outside the walls of Attári.
Illegitimacy was held to be a bar to succession, but,
