Known as Tarni, this threshing tool of the ancient Indian threshing method used by the Nagaland tribe to process their agricultural produce is artisan-made. It is designed for threshing Job's tear (Coix lacryma-jobi), a crop believed to be a millet-like grain and found widely in this area. Sometimes, it refers to a single block of wood in its name and consists of two long-thin wooden sticks joined in the center to a slender-elongated wooden handle. The tapering of the middle part of the handle is made for a good grip of the user. This type of ergonomics essentially helps a farmer swing and smack harvested stalks to thresh them.
This simple but very effective tool, expresses agricultural prowess by the people Naga and proves their eco-friendliness. This kind of tools finds a place of pride in the subversive food-growing traditions of Nagaland, where Jhum (shifting) cultivation and millet farming remain economic pinnacles. Naga tribes constitute Angami, Sema (Sumi), Ao, and Lotha. The tribes speak Sino-Tibetan languages, and are located in Nagaland and some Indian neighboring states in Northeast India. Their economy is an agricultural one; hence, every time this threshing stick is used, culture bore from one generation into another, making it symbolic for economic as well as cultural identity.