Dhenki - An old style rice mill

Dhenki or Dhinki is an old style rice mill or husk lever found in Bangladesh and Indian states of Assam, West Bengal and Odisha. 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.

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. 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 still in use some part of rural Odisha. Dhenki is also used in parts of rural Bengal.

This Special Video documented in Sur Samalaya Resource Centre for Arts, Sibsagar, Assam. Sur Samalaya resource centre for Arts is an independent institution; working in the field of culture specially focused to the state of Assam (situated in the north eastern part of India). For SSRCA ‘Culture’ is a category which connects to various sub- categories: Geography, Identity and History of a particular area. Video Production: World Aesthetic Forum Video Conceived by Thasil Suhara Backer