MST
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so you are saying that the Chola empire got that way by indians giving the locals flowers and hugs?
The Chola did exactly what the invaders of India did.
They murdered, raped and pillaged and forced their religion of Hinduism on the local population, which extinguished their indigenous culture.
what I think is weirder is again, Hindus getting so pissed at the central Asian invaders but glorifying their own.
It is prudent to separate the conquests of an empire (Chola in this case) from the spread of Indian religion and culture. Indian religion and culture were spread mainly by Scholars and merchants and not armies. Buddhism, an Indian religion spread to East Asia without any bloodshed. Hinduism in the same manner spread to South East Asia. The rulers of the Great Hindu Empires of South East Asia e.g. Khmer were not ethnic Indians but Indigenous to the land.
The Cholans as part of their conquest fought and won many wars but it was not a religious war like the Islamic armies fought. It was a conquest to expand their territory and get more colonies. Their conquest was more like the British conquest of India. The Islamic invasion of India was done to to convert India to Islam and destroy its indigenous culture. Just like they did in Persia. so both are different.
There is a reason why there is no infatuation of being Indian in East and South East Asia unlike wannabe Arabs in South Asia.