साढ़ूSadhuWife's Sister's Husband
Sadhu (साढ़ू) is your wife's sister's husband — the other man who married into the same set of sisters. Note the spelling: साढ़ू with the retroflex ढ़ is this brother-in-law, a completely different word from साधु, the ascetic holy man.
Who is your Sadhu?
Indian English calls him a co-brother, and the term captures something rare in the kinship system: a bond with no built-in hierarchy. Two sadhus owe each other no deference — they are peers who arrived at the same in-laws' door from different families, compare notes on the same set of in-laws, and end up seated side by side at every wedding and festival of their wives' family. In many households the sadhu becomes a genuine friend precisely because nothing formal is demanded of the relationship.
How it's used
Men refer to each other as sadhu or warmly as sadhu bhai, and address one another by name or as bhai sahab. For example: "मेरे साढ़ू भाई और मैं हर साल ससुराल में होली मनाते हैं" — "My sadhu (wife's sister's husband) and I celebrate Holi at our in-laws' every year."
Sadhu vs similar terms
The sadhu is not the saala: the saala is your wife's brother, while the sadhu married your wife's sister. The female parallel runs through brothers instead — women married to two brothers are jethani and devrani to each other, ranked by age, whereas sadhus stand as equals.
Frequently asked questions
What does Sadhu mean in Hindi?
Sadhu (साढ़ू) means your wife's sister's husband — men married to sisters are sadhu to each other, or co-brothers in Indian English. It is spelled with ढ़ and is unrelated to साधु, the word for an ascetic.
What is the difference between Sadhu and Saala?
Your saala is your wife's brother by blood. Your sadhu is your wife's sister's husband — related to you only through the two sisters you each married.
Related terms
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