Shilajatu

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Shilajit

What the texts say Shilajatu does

• Rasayana — rejuvenative
• Yogavahi — carries the properties of what it is combined with
• Medohara — reduces fat
• Mutrala — diuretic
• Balya — strengthening

What the evidence says. Modern study is growing and is mostly small. Fulvic acid and dibenzo-alpha-pyrones are the constituents most studied. There is not enough good clinical evidence to establish an effect on any named condition.

Side effects and limits

Purified shilajatu is well tolerated. Unpurified and counterfeit material is where the harm lies: heavy metal contamination has been documented repeatedly in commercial samples, and that is a manufacturing problem, not a property of the dravya.

Avoid or ask first: Haemochromatosis and iron overload.; Gout and hyperuricaemia — raised uric acid is reported.; Unpurified material, in any circumstance.

A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

Charaka's rasayana use is a course taken with milk, not a single dose. The classical prohibition on kulattha (horse gram) during a shilajatu course is genuine and is still taught.

Reported from Sharangadhara Samhita and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Laisha states what the texts prescribe; it does not recommend. No quantity here is adjusted for a particular person — not for agni, koshtha, bala, age, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything already being taken.

Shilajatu is classed among the Maharasa — as Adrija.

Rasa, guna, virya, vipaka and karma are recorded as the classical texts give them, with the text and section named so a student can open the book and check.

Widely faked. Material sold as shilajit is often a boiled mixture of humic substances, and analyses have repeatedly found lead, arsenic and mercury in unpurified commercial samples. Shodhana is not optional and is not what most sellers do.

A humified exudate from rock, not a single compound. Chiefly fulvic and humic acids with dibenzo-alpha-pyrones and trace minerals; composition varies by source.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Shila-jatu is rock-lac, or rock-sweat — the substance that oozes from stone. It is the most literal name in the materia medica.

Charaka gives shilajatu a pada of the Rasayana chapter to itself, describing four varieties by the metal of the rock they exude from, and stating that taken properly it leaves no disease unaddressed. That is a traditional claim of a very high order and is recorded here as what the text says.

Constituents. A humified exudate from rock, not a single compound. Chiefly fulvic and humic acids with dibenzo-alpha-pyrones and trace minerals; composition varies by source.

• This is a study and clinical reference for practitioners and students. The matra and anupana it records are what the classical texts and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India PRESCRIBE — Laisha reports them, it does not recommend them. They are not a prescription for any particular person, and they are not adjusted for your age, agni, koshtha, bala, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything else you are already taking. Only a qualified practitioner who has examined you can do that.
• Traditional classification is recorded as what the classical texts say, with the text and the place in it named. It is not restated as a finding about a human body.
• Nothing here replaces a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner or a doctor.