Dharma Sabha founded by Radhakanta Deb. It was an association of orthodox Hindus which was established in Calcutta in January 1830 opposing the government regulation to abolish the age old Hindu practice of Sati. Hindu widows were required to burn themselves alive on the funeral pyre of their dead husbands and many orthodox Hindus believed the practice as an act of piety. The organisation was established mainly to counter the ongoing social reform movements led by protagonists such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Henry Derozio.