There are two known extant accounts written by contemporaries of Bodhidharma. According to these sources, Bodhidharma came from the Western Regions,[5][6] and is described as either a "Persian Central Asian"[5] or a "South Indian [...] the third son of a great Indian king."[6] Later sources draw on these two sources, adding additional details, including a change to being descendent from a Brahmin king,[8][9] which accords with the reign of the Pallavas, who "claim[ed] to belong to a brahmin lineage.