Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (31 October 1875 - 15 December 1950) was a political and social leader of India who played a major role in the country's struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation. In India and across the world, he was often addressed as Sardar which means Chief in many languages of India. Vallabhbhai Patel, the 'Iron Man of India', was born in Nandiad, Gujarat, to Ladbai and Jhaverbhai Patel. He was one of their six children, five boys and a girl. There is no record of his date of birth. The generally accepted date, 31 October 1875, is taken from his matriculation certificate. It was an agriculturist family in which Vallabh was born and not a well-to-do one. His childhood was spent working on the family's ten acre farm at Karamsad, just like any other farmer's son, away from books. His education was thus erratic, though he was sent to the middle school at Karamsad from where he passed in his late teens. To continue his education, he joined the High School at Nandiad and passed the matriculation examination in 1897 at the age of twenty-two. In the meanwhile, he was married at the age of sixteen to Javerbai, a girl from a nearby village. Javerbai died in 1909 when Vallabhbhai was thirty three but he did not remarry. The couple had two children, a son, Dhayabhai and daughter, Manibehn.