Canto 1 - Boyhood
Bāla-kāṇḍa
Chapter 5: The City of Ayodhyā
Text 1.5.1
सर्वापूर्वमियं येषामासीत्कृत्स्ना वसुन्धरा।
प्रजापतिमुपादाय नृणां जयशालिनाम्॥
sarvāpūrvam iyaṁ yeṣām āsīt kṛtsnā vasundharā
prajāpatim upādāya nṛṇāṁ jaya-śālinām
sarva-apūrvam = unconquerable by everyone else; iyam = this; yeṣām āsīt = belonged to; kṛtsnā = entire; vasundharā = earth; prajāpatim = Prajāpati Manu; upādāya = descending from; nṛṇām = kings; jaya-śālinām = belonged to victorious.
This entire earth unconquerable by everyone else belonged to victorious kings descending from Prajāpati Manu.
In the first chapter, the Rāmāyaṇa elucidated how one should take shelter of an ācārya in order to learn the teachings of the Veda by describing how Vālmīki learnt from Nārada Muni about Lord Rāma. The next three chapters described the effect of receiving the blessings of an ācārya: direct experienced realization of all subjects pertaining to the Lord and the expertise to create a composition describing Him. Now, in order to invoke further auspiciousness, the author seeks the acceptability of saintly persons through four verses.
The “entire earth” refers to the earth of seven islands. The kings descending from Prajāpati Manu shone with victory. That Manu was himself the Prajāpati will be stated in the Rāmāyaṇa 1.70.20.