According to scholars, the Pala rulers of Bengal used to recruit cavalry and mercenary soldiers from the Kamboja (due to the lack of native horses in Bengal and Assam) of north-west. Some of the Kamboja militarist or civilian adventurers are believed to have settled permanently in Bengal and one of their descendants viz. Rajyapalal ultimately carved out an independent kingdom in north Bengal when the Pala power weakened in the second half of the tenth century CE (a situation similar to that of the Western Roman Empire and the foederati).