I cant really do this as im just trying to do the change by changing the xsl
and not the source code. I know i can do that but was wondering it Xalan had
any specific functions for this.

Check the Xalan extensions. I think the NodeInfo extension
function will give you what you want:
 http://xml.apache.org/xalan-j/extensionslib.html#nodeinfo
If all else fails, use a script or a cusom Java extension
function as described elsewhere on the site.