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If the sirdars do not approve, the combined durbar than decides who is to become Siem. In Nongspung there is a tradition that two sisters, Ka Jah and Ka Jem, came to the village of Nongspung, which was then ruled by two lyngdohs, and that the latter, having ascertained that the two sisters were of royal birth, married them.
As there is no religious ceremony which is compulsory to the Khasis on the occasion of an adoption, perhaps we are almost justified in concluding that in former times the adoption custom did not exist, more especially as the Khasis possess a special word, iap duh, for describing a family the females of which have all died out; and it is admittedly the custom for the Siem to succeed to the property of such a family.
Another such survival is the High Priestess of Nongkrem, who still has many religious duties to perform; not only so, but she is the actual head of the State in this Siemship, although she delegates her temporal powers to one of her sons or nephews, who thus becomes Siem.
There is much the same state of things in the Mariaw Siemship as regards the electorate. In Rambrai, on a vacancy occurring in the Siemship, three lyngdohs and two mantris assemble and decide who is to be Siem. They then summon the sirdars of villages to meet them in durbar and obtain the approval of the latter to their nomination.
There was in olden days a woman called Ka Rytiang of the Siem clan. Whilst she was still a spinster, she used to go to catch fish in a stream over which there is to the present day a bridge made of a single stone, called Mawpun ka Rytiang. Whilst she was catching fish in the midst of the stream a fit of drowsiness overtook her.
Hadin kata ngan sa bam ja, bad y'm don mano-mano ba lah ban pyniap ia nga lada ki'm ioh ia ki snir. Kumta ka jing-im jong nga ka sydin tang ha ki snir hi." Kumta, ynda kata ka samla, ka tynga jong u, ka la ioh tip ia kata baroh ka phah ktin sha u Siem Synteng ba'n wan uno-uno u rangbah ba ka'n iathuh ia ka jingim bad ka jingiap u Kyllong Raja.
The body of a deceased Siem according to the Cherra custom should be burnt by his successor otherwise the latter is not Siem according to the Khasi religion. The last Siem of Cherra, U Hajon Manik, did not perform the funeral obsequies of his predecessor U Ram Singh, and it is stated that many of his subjects did not regard him as Siem, according to the Khasi religion, in consequence.
Nalor une U Mawlong Siem ki Máwsmái ki don shuh ki Ryngkew hajan shgong, uwei U Rangjadong bad uwei pat U Ramsong. Ia kine ki kñia. Une U Mawlong Siem u long u blei uba khráw shibún bad uba eh. Ki para blei kim núd ban ia leh thyma ia ki. U don kawai ka khún kaba kyrteng "Ka Khymat Kharái," u blei ki Umwái u i-bha ia ka, hinrei um lah poi namar U Máwlong Siem úm sngewbha ia u.
A female Siem would be succeeded by her eldest son, and so on. As in the Khyrim State, the first, or any other subsequent heir, may be disqualified by the electors for sufficient reason. An elector is succeeded by the eldest of his brothers; failing brothers, by the eldest of the sons of his sisters, and so on.
It is then placed in a coffin, which is kept in the house of the Siem family until it is time to perform the funeral obsequies. These ceremonies entail a very large amount of expense, and it sometimes happens that they cannot be completed for some years after the death of a Siem.
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