[citation needed] The Chhaparband are a community that were historically connected with thatching of roofs, an occupation no longer practiced.
They claim to have been Rajput soldiers in the armies of the Mughal Empire, as said to have originated from Kathiawar and Rajasthan.
Their conversion to Islam is said to have occurred at the hands a Sufi saint Pir Bhai Phir Makhan.
Apart from this, a significant number are now employed as truck drivers, carpenters, masons, fruit sellers and shop owners.
Each of their settlement also has an informal communal association known as a panchayat, which acts as an instrument of social control.