What is "dhenki"

Dhenki is an old style rice mill found in Indian states of Assam 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 was operated by women to produce rice from paddy and grind rice to powder. In the movie Ashani Sanket the actresses were seen to operate dhenki for a short period of time.

The Dhenki is a traditional handmade wooden agricultural machinery in Assamese society also. 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.