Shilajeet
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Shilajeet, described as India’s wonder drug, is used in the Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine. Shilajeet contains at least 85 minerals in Ionic form and fulvic acid. [1] [citation needed] Clinical researches have been in progress and the ancient claims of the drug’s several properties, including anti-aging properties have been accepted to a large extent, and at least two major patents have been issued by the Department of United States Patents and Intellectual Property Rights. [citation needed]
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[edit] The name
Shilajeet, also spelt as Shilajit, and is known by various other names like Shilajita Mumiyo; Mineral Pitch, Mineral Wax or Ozokerite in English; Black Asphaltum; and Asphaltum puniabiunum in Latin.
Shilajeet’s literal meaning in Sanskrit is “like a rock”, connoting that the use of Shilajeet makes the human body robust and rock-like. Ancient Indian yogis, and practitioners of Aurvedic medicine, on understanding several potent qualities of Shilajeet, had attributed divine powers to Shilajeet. The ancient Indian and Tibetan texts have described Shilajeet as Amrit, the nectar of life. [citation needed]
[edit] Origin
In essence Shilajeet is a natural concentrate of plants of the regions of the Himalayas, and is found in the Himalayan ranges in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Tibet, and part of Central Asia. [citation needed] The flora of the Himalayas is rich and varied, and for thousand of years the plants have come to life, absorbed nutrients from the soil, and then died out. This is a process which has been repeated again and again countless times, and continued for millennia. It is believed that Shilajeet found in the Himalayas are the fossilized form of those plants, and the particular biosphere of the Himalayas created them and bestowed medicinal qualities to them. [citation needed] Shilajeet, found in the higher altitudes of the Himalayas, are collected during summer months when the ice melts, and Shilajeet lumps are sometimes spotted and collected from the crannies of rocks, and similar places. Shilajeet so collected are processed by several drug manufactures and presented in capsule form for human consumpation.
[edit] Modern discovery
In the modern time, Sir Martin Edward Stanley, a British explorer during his expeditions to the Himalayas, in 1870, observed that monkeys on the gangetic plains became old by the time they were 10 years old, whereas the monkeys on the higher altitudes continued to be highly active and agile even during old age. He noticed that the monkeys at the higher altitudes were eating a rock like melted material oozing out from rock crevices during when the ice cover melted during the summer months. The local people called the substance Shilajeet, and its healing properties were well-known to them for long. [citation needed]
[edit] Properties
- The Kama Sutra, an ancient treatise on the art of love and sex, has extensively mentioned aphrodisiac properties of Shilajeet.[2]
