{{Short description|Old style rice mill or husk lever}} {{Infobox machine|name=Dhikki|image=Dhiki by krish.JPG|caption=Traditional Dhiki in Nepal|origin=Nepal, Indiaa|type=Simple Machine|classification=Simple Machine|industry=Substantial|weight=Approx. 6.8 Kg|components=Wood, Stone, Metal|powered=Manual}}
'''Dhenki''', '''Dhiki''', '''Dhinki''' ({{Langx|ne|ढिकी}}; {{IPA|ne|ɖʱiki|pron}}), '''dheki''' or '''dhenki''' (Bangla: ঢেঁকি, Assamese: ঢেঁকী, Hindi: ढेंकि) is an old style rice mill or husk lever<ref name="Dharmapala2003">{{cite book|author=Anagarika Dharmapala|title=The Maha Bodhi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fnjXAAAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Maha-Bodhi Society.}}</ref> found in Nepal, Bangladesh and Indian states of Assam, West Bengal and Odisha.<ref name="JenaPatnaik2002">{{cite book|author1=Mihir K. Jena|author2=N. Patnaik|title=Forest tribes of Orissa: lifestyle and social conditions of selected Orissan tribes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amgMAQAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=D.K. Printworld|isbn=978-81-246-0415-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=911BAAAAYAAJ|year=1923|publisher=The Society}}</ref> It is usually made of hard wood. It has a fulcrum supporting a weight. Due to the force of the weight upon the rice in the pods, the rice and the golden brown husks separate. Dhenki used to be operated by women to produce rice from paddy and grind rice to powder.
This agricultural tool is used for threshing, to separate rice grains from their outer husks, while leaving the bran layer, thus producing brown rice. Dhekis have generally fallen into disuse because of the availability of technologies such as combine harvesters that require much less physical labour. In earlier times a dheki was an important part of rural life in Bangladesh and in parts of India, notably West Bengal and Assam.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} It was generally operated by two or three women.<ref name="Banglapedia">{{cite book|last=Aziz |first=KMA |year=2012|chapter=Dheki|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Dheki|editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A.|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh}}</ref>
== Construction == ''Dhenki'' is traditionally made of wood and some iron. Carpenters build most parts of it where a blacksmith would attach an iron ring to the tip of the lever. A dheki consists of a heavy wooden lever, usually about {{convert|72|inch|m|abbr=on}} long, supported on a pedestal about {{convert|18|inch|cm|abbr=on}} high, which provides a fulcrum.<ref name=Banglapedia/> At one end of the lever is a vertical wooden cylinder which functions as a pestle. It is raised by the lever, and that falls down by its own weight. The fulcrum of the lever is placed at five-eighths of the length of the lever from the pestle.<ref name=Banglapedia/>
== Uses == thumb|A Japanese ''karausu'' in 1920 The Assamese farming society uses it to retrieve rice from raw paddy grain, to make dry rice flakes, rice powder later to process it to make various delicious dry food items called ''pithas''. Dhenki is also used in parts of rural Bengal and features in various Bengali idioms. Dhenki is still in use some part of rural Odisha.
In medieval times, ''dhenki'' were introduced to Japan, where they are called {{Nihongo|''karausu''|唐臼||{{literal translation|Chinese mortar}}}}.
== In popular culture == In the Satyajit Ray's Bengali movie Ashani Sanket, the actresses were seen operating ''dhenki'' for a short period of time. Odia author Fakir Mohan Senapati has mentioned of ''dhenki'' in his literary works.<ref name="BoultonEkāḍemī1993">{{cite book|author1=J. V. Boulton|author2=Oḍiśā Sāhitya Ekāḍemī|title=Phakirmohana Senapati: his life and prose-fiction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XSEwAAAAMAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Orissa Sahitya Akademi}}</ref>[[File:Dhinki.webm|thumb|A woman grinding rice with Dhinki in a village in Odisha]]
==See also== * Mortar and pestle * Rice pounder
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Commons category|Dhinki}}
Category:Agricultural machinery Category:Rice production in India Category:History of agriculture in India Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Culture of Nepal Category:Threshing tools