70 SOCIAL SCIENTIST as can be inferred from the terms bhojyamana^ or bhujyamanakn^ At times the same plot of land had been simultaneously used by more than one party and then transferred to the monastery of the Buddhist preceptor Saitighamitra.26 However, there was a difference between the two situations in that the brahmanas and the temples in Bengal were not organised groups. Grants as a Payment/or Services Rendered Although in India the need for protection did not lead to any significant practice of commendation, instances of this type arc readily forthcoming from our region. The Karnatas are mentioned as serving in the army of the Palas of Bengal from the 8th century AD onwards.aT The Sanskrit equivalent for commendation used in contemporary texts and inscriptions was avalaga.98 It is held that the term aualaga or olaga is of Kannada origin and means military service to or attendance on one's lord.29 We can assume that it was the Karnatas who commended them" selves to the Palas and thereby introduced this term in the north. Hsuan Tsang also records that there already existed in the 7th century AD a practice of surrendering lands to landlords in lieu of protection.80 Further, though the secular counterpart of medieval European benefices was relatively rare in contemporary Bengal, instances of officials and vassals paid by land grants are known. All the individuals connected with these transactions have been mentioned though their identity is not clearly established. In one instance land was given to the queen,81 probably for her maintenance; in another to a woman" for services rendered to the king; and in yet another to a Samauta63 in lieu of services rendered to the overlords. This together with the absence of any compensation for the deprived parties suggests that in the 7th or the 8th century in East Bengal some services were remunerated by means of land which was granted for a limited period. A Pala inscription of AD 802 refers to an official in North Bengal called dasagramika,^ who, according to Manu, was paid one Kula of land.86 Another Pala record of AD 993 refers to the resumption of a grant of 200 standard measures of land once allotted to the Kaivarttas for maintenace in return for certain services which are not specified.86 R S Sharma thinks rajas, rajaputras, ranakas^ rajarajanakaSy mahasamantas, mahasamantadhipatis and so on, mentioned in the Pala land charters were mostly vassals connected with land who had to perform military service in lieu of the lands granted to them.87 Thus it seems that the practice of remunerating services rendered to the state by granting rights over lan Feudalisation of the Administration The growing feudalisation of the administrative apparatus of the state in Bengal from the Gupta period onwards is also reflected in the