I hold Genghis khan and Rajendra cholan in great esteem.Both are great emperors.Genghis khan in fact created the greatest empire mankind has ever seen.He created an empire which was larger than any empire of any time.Genghis khans great empire stretched from korea to western Europe.He and his son Ogdei khan were equal to our RR and RJ duo.
The mongol army he created was the most effecient army in the world.His armies lost only to Japanese (due to bad weather) and Egyptian mamluks.
Genghis' army consisted mostly of cavalry.Lightning speed and mobility was its major asset.His army fought with a fanatical spirit.
Genghis was said to be ruthless.He destroyed everyone who opposed him.But it was based on war stratgey.His mongol army wasnt that big.He wasnt ready to take casualities on his side.So he created a terror wave which made many cities to surrender without fighting.
Persians and Afghans consider him as ruthless religious fanatic who destroyed mosques and built buddhist viharas in persia.Mongols ended the glory of Afghanisthan and persia.They finished off the abbasid dynasty in persia.But tibetians consider Genghis to be a fair minded Lama buddhist who was impartial to no religion.
Tibetian legends say that Genghis Khan once invited representatives of the world's major religionsChristianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, to his court in order to adjudicate their rival claims to spiritual truth. He declared that he would decree the winning faith to be the state religion of his realm. According to legend, the Tibetan Buddhist monks won the contest by asking Genghis Khan to sit comfortably while they offered him a glass of his favourite tea. As if by magic, the glass rose by itself to the astonished Khan's mouth! Suitably impressed, Genghis Khan issued an edict confirming Buddhism's status as the faith his subjects were recommended to embrace. In 1270, his descendent, Kublai Khan, officially converted to Tibetan Buddhism.
Kublai khan later sent his willingness to convert to christianity according to some historians.But no missinary was willing to travel to mongolia and kublai remained Lama buddhist.
Some theorize that because mongols converted to buddhism they became peaceful people in later days.After a stint with communism, mongols now live peacefully.They have another honor though.Mongolia's capital ulan batur is world's coldest city.
You can read Genghis khan's war strategies and life history in this website
I bought a biography of GenghizKhan in a seconds book sale in Atlanta a couple of years back and I must say I was impressed by this King's record.
He probably is the only one who took on the Russian winter and won. He crossed the steppes and at one point his army was in the door steps of Europe. As sampath points out, he also conquered the entire middle east and destroyed a lot of empires in the process and established moghul rule in most of these regions through the rules of his sons. Of course, he was ruthless and while I think RRC did great things, I don't think he can be absolved of the killing of people in the wars. Genghiz Khan did that in a bigger level and on a larger scale. I dont think he carried out genocide but definitely terrorised cities to submission. But if you open a map of the world and trace the march of Genghiz Khan's army, it is mind bogling to even think of the logistics, management required and the willpower to carryout this task. I dont know about the religious council but he is known to have run big councils and there are a couple of missionaries who were with him in those councils, who have left written accounts of the Mongol king.
He is still revered as a national hero and there is a national festival around his supposed birthday. Another biggest influence of his wars was the mixing of Mongols in almost all the ruling families of the world and his grandson Kublai Khan established the yuan dynasty in China.