Did Bahubali Attain Moksha Before Adinath?

Short answer: no. Rishabhdev (Adinath) attained kevala jnana and then nirvana before his son Bahubali attained omniscience. The confusion is understandable, because the most famous part of Bahubali's story is the part where his effort produced nothing.

The sequence

1. Rishabhdev renounces. The first Tirthankara divides his kingdom among his sons — Bharat receiving Vinita (Ayodhya), Bahubali receiving Podanpur — and takes diksha. He wanders as an ascetic for a thousand years before attaining kevala jnana.

2. The brothers' conflict. Bharat, having become chakravarti, demands submission from his brothers. All renounce rather than fight, except Bahubali. To spare the armies, the two agree to settle it personally — by contests of the eye, of words, and of strength. Bahubali wins every one.

3. The moment of renunciation. With his fist raised over his defeated brother, Bahubali stops. He sees what the victory amounts to — a kingdom, at the cost of everything the fight has cost — and instead of striking, he turns the raised hand to his own head and performs keshlochan, plucking out his hair. He renounces on the spot.

4. The year that bore no fruit. Bahubali stands in kayotsarga — motionless meditation — for a full year. Vines climb his legs, anthills form at his feet, birds nest in his hair. It is the image every Bahubali statue depicts, above all the monolith at Shravanabelagola. And through all of it he does not attain kevala jnana.

5. Why not. Bahubali had renounced the kingdom but not the last trace of mana — pride. In the traditional account he would not go to Rishabhdev's samavasarana because it would mean bowing before his younger brothers, who had taken diksha first and were therefore his seniors as ascetics. His body was still; the kashaya was not.

6. The release. Rishabhdev sends Bahubali's sisters, Brahmi and Sundari, with a single line: "Veera, gaj thaki utaro" — "Brother, come down from the elephant." There is no elephant. Bahubali understands that the elephant is his pride, takes one step forward to go and bow, and attains kevala jnana in that step — before the foot lands.

So who reached moksha first?

Rishabhdev attained nirvana at Ashtapada (Mount Kailash in the Digambara account). Bahubali attained kevala jnana after the events above and moksha later still. Adinath preceded his son in both.

The one figure Jain tradition does place before Rishabhdev is Marudevi Mata, his own mother, in the Svetambara account.

Why the story is told

Bahubali is not remembered for winning. He is remembered because a year of perfect outward austerity achieved nothing while one kashaya remained, and a single step taken in humility achieved everything. In a tradition that measures tapasya carefully, it is the sharpest available statement that the inner state, not the visible feat, is what sheds karma.