The organization was established mainly to counter the ongoing social reform movements led by protagonists such as Raja Ram Mohun Roy and Henry Derozio.
More specifically, the impetus of forming the organization came from a new law enacted by the colonial British rule which banned the practice of burning widows alive (sati) in the country; the focus of the new association was to repel the law which was seen as an intrusion by the British into the religious affairs of the indigenous people by some sections of the Hindu community.
[1] The Dharma Sabha filed an appeal in the Privy Council against the ban on Sati by Lord William Bentinck as, according to them, it went against the assurance given by George III of non-interference in Hindu religious affairs; however, their appeal was rejected and the ban on Sati was upheld in 1832.
[8] Its executive body included a president, a board of directors, a secretary, and a treasurer, and its members regularly organized committees for special purposes.
[8][9] Furthermore, the organization conducted its meetings strictly according to the rules of parliamentary procedure, a form of Westernization adopted through interactions with the British.