Ups and downs

Here's a centuries-old sarcastic snippet that will definitely come across as sexist to many modern readers.

Devanagari text:

तवोच्छ्रितान् पातयितुः पतितांश्चोद्धरिष्यतः|
विधातुरिव दृश्यन्ते भग चित्रा विभूतयः||

– व्याघ्रगण

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

tavocchritAn pAtayituH patitaMzcoddhariSyataH|
vidhAturiva dRzyante bhaga citrA vibhUtayaH||

– vyAghragaNa

Loose translation: You make the exalted fall and the fallen rise – O Vulva¹! Your powers are just as wondrously varied as those of Fate² (that is responsible for the vicissitudes of human life).

Source: This verse is available in the Subhaashitaavali (सुभाषितावलि) from 10th century Kashmir (see this post), and in a slightly modified form in the Subhaashita Sudhaanidhi (सुभाषितसुधानिधि) from 14th century Vijayanagara (see this post).

Notes: If it was not clear already, the 'fall' here refers to moral degradation, and the 'rise' is of course an erection. It was not uncommon for authors to vilify female physicality and character in moralizing discourses that were, needless to say, aimed at a male reader base.  

1 Sanskrit has many words for the female genitalia, of which our poet has chosen to use bhaga (भग). Curiously, this word can also mean 'good luck' (compare the word bhaagya (भाग्य)) or 'excellence', among other things! In fact, bhaga is the source of the word bhagavaan (भगवान्) that refers to God in many Indic languages.^↩

2 The poet uses vidhaatr (विधातृ) which literally translates to 'the ordainer', and can refer to a deity in control of human destiny, sometimes identified with Brahma, or Fate personified, or just 'God' in non-denominational literature.^↩