There was another flurry of murders, and then, in 1293, the invaders returned. A mere 223 years after its establishment, Polonnaruwa was battered to bits, and with it went the golden age. By the time Marco Polo arrived, later that year, there was no mention of great cities, just people who ate rice, drank ‘tree-wine’ and wore sarongs.
It's quite sad Marco Polo canr later ijn the year Polunnaruwa was sacked. Had they sacked it a year later thbe west would have remmebered it totally differently...
