Unsurprisingly, in view of the close social affinities between the Jains and the Hindus, we find the development and prevalence of very similar social conditions and problems among both. Due to the deep impact of new forms of thought and culture, the spread of education, the application of new technology, and the acceptance of new social values in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries there developed a strong awareness among the Jains, as among Hindus, of the necessity for reforming social and religious practices. Jains reacted to this awareness along the same lines as the Hindus, but on behalf of their own community and in the light of its special identity. As a result we find that several reform movements were initiated and carried out by and for Jains during the twentieth century in the fields of religious and social practices.

Socio-religious reforms

As regards religious practices we find that leaders of different sects among the Jains launched several reform movements pertaining to the social dimension of religious matters.

Among reform movements of the Digambar sect the Dasā Pūjādhikāra Ᾱndolana, that is, the Dasā's Right to Worship Movement, occupied a prominent position. Dasās are those belonging to the dasā division found in a number of Jain castes, such as Agaravāla, Osavāla, Hummada, and Porvada in Northern and Western India.