Dhenki

Dhikki
Traditional Dhiki in Nepal
Classification	Simple Machine
Industry	Substantial
Weight	Approx. 6.8 Kg
Powered	Manual
Components	Wood, Stone, Metal

Dhenki, Dhiki, Dhinki (Nepali: ढिकी; pronounced [ɖʱiki]), dheki or dhenki (Bangla: ঢেঁকি, Assamese: ঢেঁকী, Hindi: ढेंकि) is an old style rice mill or husk lever^[1] found in Nepal, Bangladesh and Indian states of Assam, West Bengal and Odisha.^[2][3] 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 isused 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 village life in Bangladesh and in parts of India, notably West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Chhattisgarh.^{[citation needed]} It was generally operated by two or three women.^[4]