Writing 'Indian' words in Indian languages is simple. The script is phonetic.
When you write 'Indian' words in English, you have to be creative in how you spell them. There may be no such thing as a correct spelling.
Saree and Sari mean the same.
It must have been awfully challenging for the British to anglicize Indian terms; they did a 'jolly good' job of it anyway.
Cholamandalam became Coromandel. Tiruvanandapuram became Trivandrum. Tarangambadi became Tranquebar.
Udagamandalam became Ootacamund. Pazhaverkadu became Pulicat.
They did leave some words unchanged, but they used their own means to write these down in English.
Kanchipuram thus became Conjeevaram.
Aarkaadu became Arcot.
The musically inclined colonizers, even during the time of Warren Hastings used to refer to dancers as 'nautch' girls (naach for dance in hindi) and even used to host 'nautch' parties in their residence; some of them even attempted to play their raga based music on harpsichords. Letters exchanged within families of nobility during that period even contain transcriptions of some of these tunes.
Kaveri became Cauvery, no change in pronunciation; just the usage of a 'C' instead of a 'K'. The British also referred to 'the Karnatic' as 'the Carnatic'.
It is thus a left over British legacy that sees us using 'C' to use the 'kA' sound to denote South INdian art music.
So, whether it is spelt 'Carnatic' or 'Karnatic' we are still referring to the same 'Karnataka sangitam'.
About the author
Kanniks Kannikeswaran
www.kanniks.com