The hyperfine interaction of the carriers in semiconductors (involving the Fermi-contact and noncontact terms) has been treated by a "pseudo-contact interaction", which acts on the effective mass wavefunction. For the Si29 nucleons and the holes in silicon, it can be represented by S1(Jxμnx+Jyμny+Jzμnz)+S2(Jx3μnx+Jy3μny+Jz3μnz)δ(r-rn). The coupling parameters S1 and S2 are certain integrals connecting the Bloch functions of the top of the value band, generally S2≈0. Utilizing the above formula we have treated the nuclear magnetic relaxation in p-type silicon and obtained an expression for the relaxation time; the value of the parameter S1 has been determined from the relaxation time and from the spin orbit splitting value at the valence band top.