Gujarat has been called the ‘Garden of India’ because some of its areas are blessed with rich and fertile soil. Therefore the peasants of such areas are well rewarded for their hard work and enterprise. By far the most well-known and economically well-off community in rural Gujarat is the Patidar community. In the last century, Patidars formed part of a large caste group, called ‘Kanbis’ which in turn was divided into ‘Levas’ and ‘Kadvas’. Patidars are those Kanbis who belong to the Leva group. They call themselves Kshatriya because of the frequent reference to their supposed descent from Rama.
Vallabhbhai Patel was born on 31st October 1875 to Jhaverbhai Patel and Ladbai at Nadiad in the Kaira district of Gujarat. His father belonged to an agricultural caste known as the Lewa Patidar from Karamsad. Ladbai, Vallabhbhai’s mother, belonged to Nadiad. She was a simple, religious-minded noble lady. Jhaverbhai owned ten acres of land in Karamsad but unfortunately he neither made much money from land nor explored other financial opportunities. He had six children, five sons and a daughter. The sons, beginning with the eldest, were Somabhai, Vithalbhai Narsinhbhai, Vallabhbhai and Kashibhai. Jhaverbhai always impressed upon his children the importance of purity of character.
Educaton
Vallabhbhai received his early school education at Karamsad—in his ancestral village. He joined the village school at the age of six and studied there in Gujarati. Vallabhbhai received Gujarati education for seven years in his village school and then studied English upto the 3rd standard. After finishing his education at Karamsad he persuaded six other students to go with him to Petlad, a village 7 miles away, which had a school which taught English upto the fifth standard.
Vallabhbhai during his school days was not considered to be very brilliant. He was mere fond of games than of books. He was also interested in debates and took an active part in them. In games he usually preferred wrestling.
Vallabhbhai was not of a quiet or shy type but quite mischievous. He showed signs of leadership, determination and fearlessness. Once he had decided to act, he acted promptly. He never changed his mind later. He had organising capacity and his words had a persuasive power. Here are some anecdotes of his school days.
One of his teacher was running a business by selling paper, pencil, books and exercise books. He charged more than the market price but insisted that all his students should purchase only from his shop. Vallabhbhai piloted a six-day strike against the teacher, who had to close down his business.
Vallabhbhai’s attitude always was—“If something has to be done, why not I do it.” Once when going to school his foot was injured by a big stone and began to bleed. His friends advised him to dress the wound but Vallabh insisted that the stone be first removed from the path. Since it was a big stone it took quite sometime to dislodge it, but Vallabh bandaged his wound only after having it removed.
Vallabhbhai occasionally went to the fields with his father. There his father make him learn ‘tables’. After completing his primary education, Vallabhbhai went to Baroda for passing matric exams. His teacher was Mr. Chote Lal. He was the teacher of Gujarati language but he had more liking for Sanskirit. The students who do not opt Sanskrit, Chotelal doesn’t liked them. Vallabhbhai also opted Gujarati instead of Sanskrit. The first introduction between the two of them was not very friendly. Chotelal used to give lots of work to Vallabh and also unnecessary tables to write. After two months Vallabhbhai also had an enmity with one more teacher due to his aggressive nature and was not ready to upbear any unnecessary pressure. So after some days he left that school and came back to Nadiad. From here only he passed the matriculation exams. At that time he was 22.
Vallabhbhai wanted to qualify as Barrister. But due to the poor economic condition of his family, his study came to a stand-still. He completed the three year course of District Pleader from home. After passing the examination he practised first in Godhra and then Borsad, which was the centre of the taluka’s criminal courts. His elder brother Vithalbhai was also practising in Borsad in those days. Vithalbhai offered Vallabhbhai to join him but Vallabhbhai refused because he want to develop on his own effort. Vallabhbhai tried to accumulate as much knowledge as he could of procedure, the peculiarities of inter personal relationship and the malpractices that existed in legal field. At Borsad his practice flourished. Vallabhbhai had been anxious to go to England and study for the bar. At Borsad Vallabhbhai saved enough money and quietly wrote to Thomas Cook, the travel agents to arrange for his passage. The firm addressed their reply to V.J. Patel and as chance would have it, the letter fell into the hands of his elder brother, also V.J. Patel. He himself had been thinking of going to England but had not saved even a penny. So he appealed to the younger brother saying, “I am the elder of the two, so let me go first. You will get an opportunity to go after I return while I shall not be able to go after you return”. Vallabhbhai in his magnanimity not only accepted his brother’s request but agreed to support his family in his absence.
