Once settled in Gujarat, India, the community took up the occupation of manufacturing perfumes known as ittars.
A second migration took place in 1947 from Agra, after the partition of India, with some members immigrating to Pakistan, while others joining their co-ethnics in Ahmedabad.
They are divided into fourteen lineages, the main ones being the Peer Baksh, Ammer Ali, Khorata, Mandusa, Hussainsa, Zahur Hussain, Mohammad Hussain, Khodar Baksh, Barkhan, Mashoob Khan and Ghulam Khan.
The community marries among close kin and practice both cross-cousin and parallel-cousin marriages.
[1] The Attarwala are a landless community and are still involved in the manufacture of attar, the traditional perfume of North India.