Тау шайыры немесе мумиё

Thick, sticky tar like substance

Shilajit , salajeet , mumijo or mumlayi or mumie is an organic mineral product of predominantly biological origin, formed in the mountains (in mountain crevices and caves). The peoples of the East used shilajit in folk and non traditional (alternative) medicine (Ayurveda, Chinese, Tibetan). Shilajit is sold both in dry extract form and in dietary supplements.

Since ancient times, shilajit has been a folk medicine in Afghanistan, India, Iran, China, Pakistan, Nepal, Central Asia and Tibet. Shilajit has been used as a folk medicine and in alternative medicine for more than four thousand years. The healing effects of shilajit for different diseases is mentioned in the works of Aristotle, Razi, Biruni, Ibn Sina and others. D'Herbelot, in his 1821 publication, stated that the Persians used the substance called mumiay, or mummy, as a potent cure all to address broken bones and disease.

Deposits of shilajit are found in many mountainous regions of the world. Research by the Central State Geographical Exploration Center “Tsentrquartz Gems” has shown that deposits of shilajit, despite the wide geography of their location, are very rare, and the reserves of raw materials in them are limited. It is found in calcareous, metamorphic rock, and sedimentary rocks (from Proterozoic to Quaternary) in Central Asia, Tuva, at the Lake Baikal, in the Caucasus and other regions. It is more often found in the Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau, mountains of the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mongolia, Myanmar. The substance is known by different names, including Salajeet (Urdu: سلاجیت) in Pakistan, μούμια (in Greek), mumiyo or mumie (Russian: Мумиё), brag shun or barakhshin ("oil of the mountains" in Mongolia and southern Russian Siberian regions near the Sayan Mountains such as Khakassia and Buryatia), rock sap or rock juice (in Tibet, Central Asia, Himalaya, Pamir and Altai), asphalt, mineral pitch, Jew’s pitch, slag or mineral wax (in English), silajita or silajatu (in Bengali), hajarul Musa or araq al jibal (in Arabic), myemu, moomiaii or mumnaei (in Persian), Mumie (in German), kao tun ("blood of the mountain" in Myanmar) and "blessing of nature" (Nepal).

It has also been believed that it is formed as a result of the decomposition of oil rocks by microorganisms. Chemical composition of organic part of the extract (about 50% carbon and 10% hydrogen) supports the oil origin hypothesis. Some researchers hypothesize that shilajit is produced by the decomposition or humification of latex and resin bearing plant material from species such as Euphorbia royleana and Trifolium repens over a period of centuries.

Although shilajit is sometimes referred to as a mineral tar or resin, it is actually both of those. It is a highly viscous substance like a tar or resin, that is very dark brown or black in color, but unlike these is readily soluble in water but insoluble in ethanol. It contains more than 20 elements, including Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Cr, Pb. It also contains solid paraffin hydrocarbons, proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids, fatty acids, and alcohols. Shilajit is rich in nutrients such as mineral salts, amino acids, and other organic components including benzoic acid, hippuric acid, fatty acids (myristic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, petroselinic acid, linoleic acid, lauric acid, saturated fatty acids), ichthyridine, salicylic acid, resins, triterpenes, sterols, aromatic carboxylic acids, 3,4 benzocoumarins, amino groups acids, phenolic lipids, latex, albumin, sterols, tea polyphenols, phenolic lipids, dibenzo alpha pyrones (DBP), and dibenzo α pyrone chromoproteins (DCPs). Shilajit is composed of 60–80% humic substances such as humic and fulvic acids. Studied by analytical methods, shilajit samples from the Himalayas (5.1 kDa), Altai (8 kDa), Tian Shan (7.5 kDa), Dzungarian (9.0 kDa), demonstrated that it consists of two principal components: the high molecular part is fulvic nature of sample as typical peat fulvic acids (sample from Sakhtysh Lake, Russia), and the low molecular part represents a range of vegetative and animal metabolites such as methyldiaminocyclohexane, shikimic acid, hippuric acid, quinic acid, hydroxyhippuric acid, and methyldiaminocyclohexane dimer.