Dheki

A statue shows foot-operation of a dheki.
Removing the beaten grain and adding fresh paddy to a dheki
Dheki with small amount of rice in a rural village of Jharkhand, India.

A dheki is an agricultural tool used for threshing, to separate rice grains from their husks. 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 Assam and Chhattisgarh. It was generally operated by two or three women.[1]

A dheki consists of a heavy wooden lever, usually about 72 in (1.8 m) long, supported on a pedestal about 18 in (46 cm) high, which provides a fulcum.[1] 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.[1]

See also

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 KMA Aziz (2012). "Dheki". In Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.