RELB 2100

Take this class!!!! Kachru is the most articulate professor I have had at UVA, and is able to explain somewhat abstract concepts remarkably well. He has a great sense of humor which keeps the class lighthearted, and lectures in such a way that maintains your engagement for the full 50 minutes (at least I never found myself bored). He is also amazingly cool because he really values his students' understanding of major concepts, and thus never tests on minutiae, ideas directly from the readings, etc. That said, aside from the occasional reading that is more or less optional, there is no homework. Two "quizzes," a final paper, and attendance (originally lecture and discussion were regarded as somewhat optional, which led to a considerable percentage of the class' absence on a daily basis) comprise your grade. I am getting so much out of this class -- not having to stress about my grade has a way of allowing the information to really resonate with me and become applicable. Your GPA wants you to take this class!!

This is an easy course since there isn't any work for the most part. There are two quizzes and a final essay. The first quiz was a total joke and the second was take home but more difficult. Lectures are painfully boring and discussions are basically pointless. The only reason anyone shows up is because he takes attendance in lectures and discussion. Kachru is a decent professor but is incredibly full of himself. I haven't read a single page of any of the readings and am doing good so far.

Kachru is an incredible professor who made jokes during lecture and kept it lighthearted and interesting which made me actually want to go to the lectures. Both the professor and the TAs genuinely want to help you succeed in this class and will go above and beyond to make sure you are doing well. It is not a challenging class, but there will definitely be some studying involved for the finals and to write the final essay. I would definitely recommend this class.

Professor Kachru is incredibly unorganized and doesn't send the readings out until the Sunday before class. The quizzes that are the biggest part of our grade are not the same between the different TAs and certain ones are definitely harder than others. This class seems like it'll be easy, but it's not; it's a waste of time.

Professor Kachru is illuminating! He gives very good lectures and really cares about his students. I think he’s being too nice this semester because he decides to remove all essay assignment and exams from the course (only quiz). It may give you stress-free experience and help you focus on learning the material itself, OR it makes you lack any incentive to study.

Rare, true easy A at UVA. 10/10 recommend taking it with Kachru. No exams, no papers. Like 35% is participation and the other 65% is from weekly discussion quizzes that are easy as long as you read.

Straight up best and easiest course at UVA. 11/10 would recommend taking.

Lots of readings but only one is used for the quiz (each week), can be read before the discussion. Go to class they often have an attendance quiz. They bump quiz grades at the end. Only hard part about the class is it is at 9am. Really cool professor who cares about the material.

The course was fun to take, and the professor made the course very much stress-free as long as you payed attention in class. When the course went online, the professor continued the stress-free environment giving us modules of reading articles, listening to podcasts, or watching buddhism research talks or documentaries followed by 1.5 page (double spaced) responses to each module. Some of these modules were a little dry, but overall, I think Kachru did a good job with online course transition. The course was one of the more easygoing courses that I took, and although I was put off by the fact I was taking a religious course, I found that I enjoyed the course as teaching life lessons that I could take away to apply to my own perspective on life.

Agreeing with everyone else, this class was a really nice stress-free A class. Kachru was a really chill professor, and was super understanding when the class moved online due to covid. He ended up basing our grade on modules/entries after we went online, but if you are taking this class in person, the entire grade is just participation and weekly quizzes on reading and lecture. If you take notes, you should be totally fine on these. Sometimes the discussions were hard to sit through but definitely would still recommend taking this class