The colour of this natural resource can vary from yellowish-brown to pitch-black, depending on its place of origin and also on the ratio of its compositions. However, in Indian Ayurvedic medicine, the black variety is believed to be the most powerful and effective. The fact that it seeps out of the cracks formed in the mountains due to the heat generated from the sun, has given the substance names like mineral oil, stone oil, Mountain Blood and rock sweat. Shilajit is also known as mineral pitch, mineral wax or black asphaltum in English. In local languages, it is known by hundreds of different names in different countries e.g. Asphaltum punjabianum, mimie, mummiyo, badha-naghay, shargai, dorobi, barahshin, tasmayi, chao-tong, wu ling zhi etc. The substance found by indigenous people living in the Altai Mountains which closely resembles Shilajit, is called by names like Mumijo, Mumiyo, Mumie, momio, myemu or Mummy. This is a play on the Greek word ‘mumie’, meaning ’to preserve the body’.