Question: Before the Buddha introduced nirvana and enlightenment, was there any way to escape from the cycle of birth and death? What is written in Buddhist texts?

Answer: 
According to Theravada tradition, Buddhas come and go over countless eons. Only in the times when their teaching is alive and true will we get a chance of escaping from this endless samsara. Every once in a great while, after a long period of spiritual darkness blankets the world, an individual is eventually born who, through his own efforts, rediscovers the long-forgotten path to Awakening and liberates himself once and for all from the long round of rebirth, thereby becoming an arahant ("worthy one," one who has fully realized Awakening). 

In Digha Nikáya Sutta 14, [Mahapadana Sutta (The Great Discourse on the Lineage)](http://buddhasutra.com/files/mahapadana_sutta.htm)) & DN 32 The Ātaānātiiya Discourse, the Supreme Buddha stated that six Supreme Buddhas appeared over 91 world-cycles. The seven Buddhas, including "our" Supreme Buddha, mentioned in DN 14 & DN 32: Vipassi, Sikhi, Vessabhu, Kakusandha, Konagamana, Kassapa, and Gotama. They were all born in this earth, in the land of the Rose Apple (Jambudipa), in north-central India in the area known then as the Middle Land (Majjhima Desa).

If such a being lacks the requisite development of a Supreme Buddha, he is unable to articulate his discovery to others and is known as a "Silent" or "Private" Buddha (paccekabuddha). These silent Buddhas come to pass a few hundred years prior to a birth of a Supreme Buddha. These Silent Buddhas too are born only in the land of the Rose Apple (Jambudipa), in north-central India in the area known then as the Middle Land (Majjhima Desa). This is a Dharmatha - a set of natural laws.

Only at a time when the Dhamma of a Supreme Buddha is alive in the world will arahants walk this earth because they require a Buddha to show them the way to Awakening. (All Buddhas and paccekabuddhas are arahants) No matter how far and wide the sasana spreads, sooner or later it succumbs to the inexorable law of anicca (impermanence), and fades from memory. The world descends again into darkness, and the eons-long cycle repeats. The most recent Buddha was born Siddhattha Gotama in India in the sixth century BCE. He is the one we usually mean when we refer to "The Buddha." 

The next Buddha due to appear is said to be Maitreya (Metteyya), a bodhisatta currently residing in the Tusita heavens. Legend has it that at some time in the far distant future, once the teachings of the current Buddha have long been forgotten, he will be reborn as a human being, rediscover the Four Noble Truths, and teach the Noble Eightfold Path once again. His name is mentioned only once in the entire Tipitaka, in the Cakkavatti-Sihanada Sutta (DN 26; The Lion's Roar on the Turning of the Wheel):

> 
> [The Buddha:] And in that time of the people with an eighty-thousand-year life-span, there will arise in the world a Blessed Lord, an arahant fully enlightened Buddha named Metteyya, endowed with wisdom and conduct, a Well-farer, Knower of the worlds, incomparable Trainer of men to be tamed, Teacher of gods and humans, enlightened and blessed, just as I am now.
> 
> 
>
According to Buddhism, there was no way to escape from *samsara* (the cycle of ignorance, craving & ego-becoming) before the Buddha. 

What is called 'Hinduism' arose after Buddhism. Before Buddhism, the main religion was called 'Brahmanism', which focused on 'Brahma' (god) & the Brahmin caste. There appears to be no evidence Brahmanism found a way to be free from 'samsara'. 

If Brahmanism actually knew of a way to be free from samsara, the word 'Buddha' is a lie & false, since the Buddha declared his discovery was something completely brand new, i.e., "never heard before". 

> 
> *This noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering has been developed’: thus, bhikkhus, in regard to things unheard before,
>  there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and
>  light.*
> 
> 
> [*SN 56.11 The First Sermon*](https://suttacentral.net/en/sn56.11)
> 
> 
>