In Jain Dharma, your question touches directly on Jain time‑cosmology, so it’s good to clear that first.

1. How time works in Jainism (very briefly)

• Time is beginningless and endless.
• In each “full cycle” of time there are:

- one avasarpiṇī (descending half‑cycle) and - one utsarpiṇī (ascending half‑cycle).

• Every half‑cycle has exactly 24 Tirthankars in each kṣetra (like our Bhārat Kṣetra).

We are now in:

• Avasarpiṇī (descending half‑cycle) of time,
• in Bhārat Kṣetra,
• and the present set of 24 Tirthankars ends with Bhagwān Mahāvīr (24th).

2. “The 24 before the current 24” – what does that mean?

Logically it can mean either:

1. The 24 Tirthankars of the immediately previous half‑cycle (previous utsarpiṇī) in this Bhārat Kṣetra.
2. Or, sometimes people loosely say it meaning: “Were there Tirthankars before Ṛṣabhdeva in this cycle?”

According to Jain cosmology:

• Before this set of 24 in the current avasarpiṇī,

there was another set of 24 Tirthankars in the previous utsarpiṇī (ascending half‑cycle).

• Before that half‑cycle, again another 24, and so on – infinitely many sets of 24 in the endless past.

3. Are the names of the “previous 24” known?

This is the key point.

• Scriptures clearly and consistently give the names and details of the 24 Tirthankars of our current avasarpiṇī only (Ṛṣabhdev to Mahāvīr).
• They also state, in principle, that every half‑cycle has 24 Tirthankars.
• But detailed, universally‑accepted lists of the 24 Tirthankars of the previous half‑cycle (just before our current 24) are not given in the standard, commonly‑studied texts in either Digambar or Śvetāmbara tradition.
• Some later texts or regional traditions may mention names or stories of Tirthankars from other cycles, but these are not uniformly accepted or widely taught like the names of our current 24.

Because of that, if we try to write “the 24 names before the present 24,” we will very likely be going beyond what is solidly supported in mainstream Jain āgamic or traditional literature.

To preserve purity and authenticity of Jain Dharma, we should say:

• Yes, there were 24 Tirthankars before the current 24 in the immediately previous half‑cycle,
• No, there is no single, standard, universally‑accepted list of those 24 names in the way we have for the present chovīsī.

4. What is the important teaching here?

From a spiritual point of view, Jain Dharma emphasizes:

• The principle that in every half‑cycle, 24 souls arise as Tirthankars,
• They re‑discover and re‑teach the same eternal path:

- Samyak Darśan (Right Faith) - Samyak Jñān (Right Knowledge) - Samyak Chāritra (Right Conduct)

So while the exact historical names of the previous 24 are not central for sādhanā, the law that such 24 always arise and keep the path available is what’s doctrinally important.

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So in summary:

• There were 24 Tirthankars before the current 24 (in the previous utsarpiṇī of this region).
• Jain cosmology affirms their existence.
• But a clear, standard, widely‑accepted list of all their names is not given in the main Digambar or Śvetāmbara traditions as it is for the present chovīsī.