In this episode, Lisa Mitchell of the University of Pennsylvania discusses the role of language in Indian politics - and southern India in particular.
She also explains how even the emergency stop chain on trains can be a tool of political protest.
The interviewer is the Centre of South Asian Studies' Dr Edward Anderson.
The South Asia Podcast is a production of Cambridge University's Centre of South Asian Studies.
In each episode we sit down with a scholar who has contributed something extraordinary to our understanding of history, politics or culture in South Asia, and get a deeper insight into their work.
