Padma and Parvati

[pk_dawson]

I recently started reading "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie
for a second time, and was a little surprised to come across two
familiar names: Padma and Parvati.  Now, these characters are not
related, nor are the last names similar to the ones we know from
Hogwarts. They're just two fairly important minor characters.

So does anyone know where JKR got the idea for the names of these two
characters? "Midnight's Children" is not Rushdie's most famous work
(that would be "Satanic Verses", for which some people tried to kill
him), but it is certainly possible that she has read the book. Or
maybe Padma and Parvati are just two interesting Indian names that
JKR liked? Any ideas?

- Patrick