Shilajit is treated as vegetarian. Published reviews describe it as an exudate from mountain rock made up mainly of humic substances, formed as plant matter is broken down by microorganisms, not as the product of any animal. Whether a finished shilajit product is also vegan depends on what is added to it, above all a gelatin capsule shell, and on how it was purified. Its origin is still debated; this article sets out what is known.
This is a question about what shilajit is, not what it does; we make no claims about its effects. If you are thinking of taking shilajit in any form, follow your doctor's advice first.
At a glance
- A 2012 review in the International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease puts humic substances, including fulvic acid, at around 60 to 80 per cent of shilajit, and says researchers hypothesise that it forms as plants such as Euphorbia royleana and Trifolium repens decompose over centuries.
- A 2020 geological study of 68 exudation points in Sichuan, China, lists rock, marine-invertebrate, plant-fossil and animal-dropping theories of origin and says none of them clearly explains the source.
- Under FSSAI's Labelling and Display Regulations 2020, a food is non-vegetarian if it contains any part of an animal or any product of animal origin other than milk, milk products, honey, beeswax, carnauba wax or shellac; every other food is vegetarian.
- FSSAI's Vegan Foods Regulations 2022 define vegan food as food with no ingredient, additive, carrier or processing aid of animal origin at any stage of production, and no animal testing.
- A 2010 pharmaceutical review describes HPMC capsule shells as replacing "the animal derived gelatin" in two-piece capsules, so the shell, not the shilajit, decides whether a capsule product can be vegan.
Is shilajit veg or non-veg?
Vegetarian, on what the research says about its make-up. A 2007 review in Phytotherapy Research and a 2012 review in the International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease both describe shilajit as a mixture of humic substances and plant and microbial metabolites seeping from rock. Neither describes it as the product of an animal, so by India's labelling definition it is vegetarian.
What is shilajit made of?
Mainly humic substances. The 2012 review puts humic substances, including fulvic acid, at around 60 to 80 per cent of shilajit, with small amounts of trace elements. The 2007 review, by Agarwal and colleagues at Jamia Hamdard, calls it "a complex mixture of organic humic substances and plant and microbial metabolites occurring in the rock rhizospheres of its natural habitat".
Humic substances are what is left when organic matter, "mainly vegetal substances" in the 2012 review's words, is degraded by microorganisms. They are sorted by how they dissolve in water, from humins, which do not, to fulvic acid, at around 2 kDa. Our article on fulvic acid in shilajit explains how that fraction is measured.
Does shilajit contain animal matter or fossilised animals?
Not according to the composition studies, but its origin is genuinely unsettled. A 2020 study in Chinese Medicine, which surveyed 68 exudation points in Sichuan, says the source of shilajit "still remains unclear and controversial" and that none of the current theories clearly explains it. The main theories, some involving animals, are below.
| Theory | Who holds it, as the 2020 study reports | What it proposes |
|---|---|---|
| Rock source | Scholars of Tibetan and Ayurvedic medicine | A melt of metals such as gold, silver, copper and iron |
| Marine invertebrates | Indian researchers cited in the study | Shilajit originated from marine invertebrates |
| Plant fossils | A Russian researcher, Scholz-Böttcher | "Mumie" derives from the fossils of higher plants |
| Animal droppings | Tibetan medicine sources and an ecological study | Dried faecal matter of a squirrel (Trogopterus) and a pika (Ochotona), or squirrel faeces and urine |
| Plant secretions | Earlier researchers cited in the study | Secretions of Euphorbia royleana, Trifolium repens and some bryophytes |
| Organic matter in rock | The 2020 study's own hypothesis | Organic matter stored in carbon-rich rock seeps out when geological activity changes conditions inside the rock |
Two points matter here. The "fossilised animals" idea appears as one hypothesis among several, not as a finding, and the only fossil theory the study cites is about plants. The composition work points towards plants and microbes: the 2012 review says humic substances come from "mainly vegetal substances", and the 2007 review speaks of plant and microbial metabolites. No analysis we read reports animal tissue in shilajit.
Raw shilajit, though, is not clean. The 2020 study describes it as found on cliffs as "a water-soluble mixture of black paste and animal feces" of squirrels or pikas. That is why every source we read insists on purification: the 2012 review says a purified, ready-for-use preparation "must be used". What purification involves is covered in our article on how shilajit is collected and purified.
What do India's veg and non-veg rules say?
A packaged food in India is non-vegetarian if it contains whole or part of any animal, including birds, insects and fresh-water or marine animals, or eggs, or any product of animal origin, except milk, milk products, honey, beeswax, carnauba wax and shellac. Vegetarian food is anything else. Both definitions are in FSSAI's Labelling and Display Regulations 2020.
Every package of non-vegetarian food, including one whose additives or processing aids are of animal origin, carries a brown filled triangle inside a square; every package of vegetarian food carries a green filled circle. Because the declaration covers additives, a gelatin-shelled capsule should carry the brown triangle even though the shilajit inside would not.
Milk and milk products are among the animal-origin exceptions the rules make, which is why ghee carries the green circle; see our article on whether ghee is vegan. The symbol is the manufacturer's declaration about what went into the pack, and says nothing about purity or contamination.
Is shilajit vegan?
The substance can be; a given product may not be. FSSAI's Vegan Foods Regulations 2022 define vegan food as food or food ingredients, including additives, flavourings, enzymes, carriers and processing aids, that are not products of animal origin, and in whose production nothing of animal origin was used at any stage. The product must also not have involved animal testing, unless a regulator requires it.
On the composition described in the reviews, shilajit itself contains no animal ingredient. But the definition reaches back through every stage of production, and the classical purification methods do not all use water. A 2019 review of Ayurvedic texts records methods that dissolve shilajit in cow's milk, Triphala decoction or bhringaraja juice before filtering and sun-drying (Rasaratna Samucchaya), wash it in hot cow's milk or cow urine (Rasapaddhati), or boil it in media including cow urine or cow ghee (Rasarnava). A resin purified by any of those routes would fail the 2022 definition of vegan, even though milk is not a non-vegetarian ingredient under the labelling rules.
The 2022 regulations also create a vegan logo. A package may carry it only after approval, and the maker has to apply to the licensing authority. On a pack, that approved logo means more than the word "vegan".
Which shilajit products are vegetarian, and which are vegan?
Resin with nothing added is vegetarian and, if purified without animal media, can be vegan; capsules depend on the shell; powders and tablets depend on their carriers. FSSAI's list of additives for tablets and capsules, issued with its 2022 nutraceutical regulations, names both gelatin and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose as capsule-shell ingredients.
| Form | What to check on the label | Vegetarian? | Vegan? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resin or paste | Ingredient list; how it was purified | Yes by the FSSAI definition, if nothing of animal origin is added | Only if no animal product, including milk, was used at any stage |
| Capsule, gelatin shell | "Gelatin" or "gelatine" in the ingredients | No: gelatin is animal-derived | No |
| Capsule, HPMC shell | "HPMC", "hypromellose" or "hydroxypropyl methylcellulose" | Yes, if the fill and other additives are also non-animal | Possible; depends on the fill and the processing |
| Powder or tablet | Carriers such as maltodextrin, microcrystalline cellulose or magnesium stearate, all on FSSAI's permitted list | Depends on the origin of each additive | Depends on each additive's origin and on the processing |
A 2010 review of HPMC capsules in the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences describes HPMC shells as "replacing the animal derived gelatin in conventional two-piece capsules". So read the shell first, then check the label in this order.
- Find the symbol. A green filled circle is the maker's declaration that the pack is vegetarian; a brown filled triangle means it is not.
- Read the capsule shell. Gelatin or gelatine is animal-derived; HPMC, hypromellose or hydroxypropyl methylcellulose is the non-animal alternative.
- Look for FSSAI's vegan logo. It can be used only after approval under the 2022 regulations, so it carries more weight than the word.
- Read the rest of the ingredient list. Carriers should be named; ask the maker about their origin if the pack does not say.
- Ask how it was purified if vegan status matters to you. Water and Triphala decoction are classical media; so are cow's milk, cow ghee and cow urine.
None of these checks tells you anything about purity, adulteration or heavy metals. For those, see our guide on how to identify pure shilajit; only a batch laboratory report answers that.
The short version
Shilajit is vegetarian on what the research says about its make-up: reviews describe a rock exudate of humic substances from decomposed plant matter and microbial action, and no analysis we read reports animal tissue in it. Its origin is still debated, and animal droppings sit among the theories as a hypothesis, not a finding. Under India's labelling rules only an animal-origin ingredient or additive, such as a gelatin capsule shell, makes a pack non-vegetarian; the 2022 vegan rules also exclude any animal product used in processing, such as cow's milk in purification. Read the shell, the symbol and the ingredient list, and ask your doctor before taking it.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- Agarwal SP, Khanna R, Karmarkar R, Anwer MK, Khar RK (2007). Shilajit: a review. Phytotherapy Research.
- Carrasco-Gallardo C, Guzmán L, Maccioni RB (2012). Shilajit: A Natural Phytocomplex with Potential Procognitive Activity. International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
- Ding R, Zhao M, Fan J, et al. (2020). Mechanisms of generation and exudation of Tibetan medicine Shilajit (Zhaxun). Chinese Medicine.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2022). Food Safety and Standards (Vegan Foods) Regulations, 2022. The Gazette of India: Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2025). Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, Version VIII. FSSAI.