The History of Shilajit: From the Himalayas to Your House
As you can probably tell from previous blog posts about shilajit, we’re pretty excited about having it as part of our collection! It’s a truly remarkable substance with an extraordinary history, which I can’t wait to share with you. Those delicious gummies you eat are a much easier way to consume the substance than what ancient peoples had, but they still used it regularly!
Shilajit is Ancient History
The term “shilajit” is taken from the Sanskrit language and describes a substance that has been enjoyed for 5,000+ years. It was used as a folk medicine in a host of primarily Asian nations, including Nepal, Pakistan, India, China, and Tibet.
The reality is that shilajit has probably been used for even longer. After all, the best version of it comes from the Altai Mountains and Himalayan Mountains, and both ranges are at least 300 million years old. Bear in mind that the Egyptian hieroglyphs and Sumerian archaic cuneiform script are the oldest known writing systems, and neither are likely older than 5,400 years. So, it’s tough to ascertain the “age” of any customs or events that occurred before then.
In any case, shilajit is mentioned in the Sushrut Samhita and Charaka Samhita texts, which were the foundational texts of the Indian traditional medicine system known as Ayurveda. The latter book was probably created in the first or second century CE, while the former was likely written in the sixth century CE.
Both texts outline how to prepare shilajit. Unfortunately, they didn’t have gummies back then, so it was necessary to mix it with certain herbs! Some ancient writings even described shilajit as a substance that came from Shiva, the Hindu god.
It seems that Aristotle wrote about shilajit, too, which has been referred to as mumijo, mumie, and mumlayi, amongst other names throughout history. The Greek polymath, who lived in the fourth century BCE, discussed shilajit’s apparent healing properties.
Middle Age Musings
It’s relatively tricky to uncover information about the spread of Shilajit’s popularity or how it was perceived outside of ancient worlds. However, there are writings from authors who lived in the early Middle Ages. For the record, the “Middle Ages” in European history relates to a period between 500 and 1500 CE.
The famed philosopher and physician Ibn Sina (or Avicenna in the West) was famous in the Muslim world and probably wrote his works during the 11th century CE. In The Canon of Medicine, he wrote that shilajit was a common remedy for a host of medical conditions. He stated that folk healers used it to help with colds, dislocations, and hearing loss!
Al-Buruni, another 11th-century Islamic scholar, also wrote about shilajit’s apparent healing properties. Thus, it’s clear that shilajit’s reputation preceded it to some degree.
Shakespearean Shilajit
It’s hard to know precisely when shilajit made the journey from East to West. Certainly, the opening of the Silk Road in the second century BCE would have helped facilitate the substance’s movement. The fact that Greek writers such as Aristotle knew about it suggests it was used or at least known in certain parts of Europe even before then.
What’s likely is that shilajit was somewhat known in Western Europe by the 16th century CE. For example, the Swiss physician Paracelsus wrote about it in the early 1500s. There are also several mentions of “mummy,” another term for shilajit, in Shakespeare’s plays, such as Othello and Macbeth. While Othello is probably set in the 1500s, Macbeth is set some 500 years earlier.
Shilajit in the Modern Age
Fast forward to the 1800s, and there are many other accounts of shilajit being used by Western Europeans. In 1870, Sir Martin Edward Stanley documented that shilajit had a positive effect on monkeys in the Himalayan Mountain range. Monkeys that consumed it retained their agility in their golden years, unlike the more sluggish European monkeys.
It’s often claimed that Stanley’s writings led to the popularity of shilajit in the West. However, there is plenty of evidence that it was used long before then.
Yet, despite thousands of years of mainly positive PR, shilajit has only become a semi-mainstream product relatively recently. The market is growing slowly but surely, however, as people begin to marvel at what it can do for them.
It contains dozens of elements, such as magnesium, calcium, iron, and sodium. Rather than shoving gobs of the tar-like substance into your mouth like Himalayan monkeys, try our shilajit gummies instead. You’ll get similar effects without feeling as if you’ve eaten a batch of coal!
