villagers start inquiring about Bhujanganath and Dixit. Sharada, after meeting Bhujanganath in person, opposes for the marriage but her father Kanchanbhat does not pay any heed and starts the preparation for the marriage. With the help of a friend, Kodand manages to escape from the custody. On the day of marriage, Kodand accompanied by police, reaches the marriage venue and exposes Bhujanganath and Dixit. Police arrests both of them. Sharada runs away from the venue and decides to commit suicide. But Kodand convinces Sharada and proposes her for the marriage. Sharada accepts the proposal and both of them decides to get married. Characters The play had number of characters. Some of them even had songs which were rendered by themselves. Bhujanganath (Shrimant): a 75-year-old widower Kodand: an orphaned Purohit and male protagonist Kanchanbhat: Sharada's father Janhavi, Sharayu, Vallari, Mandakini, Triveni and Tunga: Sharada's friends Bhadreshwar Dixit: a middleman Sharada: a teenager, young bride and female protagonist Indirakaku: Sharada's mother Jayant: Sharada's younger brother Hiranyagarbha (Shyamsundar), Suvarnashastri, Shitikanth, Pushkarbhat, Kaustubh, Upadhyay, Kotwal, Bimbacharya, Vetalik, Ramanandcharya, Jagadguru: villagers and other characters List of songs The play, being a musical, had plenty of songs. All the songs were penned and composed by Govind Ballal Deval. Act One Act Two Act Three Act Four Act Five In society Prior to staging of Sangeet Sharada, plays with historical and mythological stories were popular in Marathi theater. With a message to abolish child marriage from society, the play became "a pioneer in social drama in India" in 1899. The show gained popularity in such a way that when Child Marriage Restraint Act, also known as "Sarda Act" was passed, it was mistaken to be named after the play as "Sharada Act". Passed on September 28, 1929, the act was proposed by Haribilas Sarda and was actually called so after his surname. The songs of the drama still remain popular. The song "Mhatara Na Ituka" was used in 2011 Marathi film Balgandharva. Recently in January 2012, a modern version of the play Sangeet Sharada - A Reality Show was staged in Mumbai. The revived play gave a modern perspective to the play. All songs from the original drama were used; some used the new genre of music in them. The play was staged by employees of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. In 2011, the play was also transliterated into Braille script. Incidentally, on 21 December 1909 while