xpath Get nodes relative to the current node Get all avatars before Parashurama
Example
XML
<Dashavatar>
<Avatar name="Matsya"/>
<Avatar name="Kurma"/>
<Avatar name="Varaha"/>
<Avatar name="Narasimha"/>
<Avatar name="Vamana"/>
<Avatar name="Balabhadra"/>
<Avatar name="Parashurama"/>
<Avatar name="Rama"/>
<Avatar name="Krishna"/>
<Avatar name="Kalki"/>
</Dashavatar>
XPATH
//Avatar[@name='Parashurama']/preceding-sibling::node()
OUTPUT
<Avatar name="Matsya"/>
<Avatar name="Kurma"/>
<Avatar name="Varaha"/>
<Avatar name="Narasimha"/>
<Avatar name="Vamana"/>
<Avatar name="Balabhadra"/>
