The oldest of the cave shrines is believed to date back to 160 BCE, having arisen near a major ancient trade route, running eastward from the Arabian Sea into the Deccan.

[1] Many traders, Western Satraps of Saka origin and Satavahana rulers made grants for construction and support of these caves.

[4] The caves were historically associated with the Mahāsāṃghika sect of Buddhism which had great popularity in this region of India, as well as wealthy patronage.

[19] About a generation after Nahapana, the Satavahana ruler Vasishthiputra Pulumavi (130-159 CE) also left a dedicatory inscription on the other side of the central gate.

[20] Numerous decorative panels representing the Buddha with attendants were later added to the veranda during the Mahayana period, and have been dated to the 6th century CE.

It is exceptional for preserving original elements in wood: the prominent lateral ribs and other roof timbers, and the umbrella over the stupa.

[24] R. C. Majumdar quoting James Fergusson explains: "It resembles an early Christian church in its arrangement; consisting of a nave and side-aisles terminating in an apse or semi-dome, round which the aisle is carried... Fifteen pillars on each side separate the nave from the aisle; each pillar has a tall base, an octagonal shaft, and richly ornamented capital, on the inner front of which kneel two elephants, each bearing two figures, generally a man and a woman, but sometimes two females, all very much better executed than such ornaments usually are; behind are horses and tigers, each bearing a single figure.

[26] In advance of the Chaitya stands the lion-pillar, in this instance a plain shaft with sixteen flutes, or rather faces, surmounted by a capital not unlike that at Kesariya, but at Karle supporting four lions instead of one.

A similar pillar probably stood on the opposite side, but it had either fallen or been removed to make way for the little Hindu temple that now occupies its place.

An undivided volume of light coming through a single opening overhead at a very favorable angle, and falling directly on the dagoba or principal object in the building, leaving the rest in comparative obscurity.

[26] Fifteen pillars on each side separate the nave from the aisles; each pillar has a tall base, an octagonal shaft, and richly ornamented capital, on the inner front of which kneel two elephants, each bearing two figures, generally a man and a woman, but sometimes two females, all very much better executed than such ornaments usually are; behind are horses and tigers, each bearing a single figure.

It is ornamented even at this day by a series of wooden ribs, probably coeval with the excavation, which prove that the roof is not a copy of a masonry arch, but of some sort of timber construction.

[26] An inscription on the left wall of the veranda, over the line of facing elephants and under the scultpture of a multi-storied building, mentions the completion of the "rock mansion" by a setthi (merchant) from Vaijayanti (Banavasi) named Bhutapala: (This) rock-mansion, the most excellent in Jambudvipa, has been completed by the Setthi Bhutapala from Vaijayanti.The "completion" of the "rock-mansion" mentioned by Bhutapala may only refer to the ornate sculptures of the veranda, specifically to the multi-storied mansion sculpted on top of the inscription, rather than the cave as a whole, since the various components of the Karla caves generally bear inscriptions by their individual donators.

An important dedicatory inscription relates to Nahapana on the lintel to the right of the entrance of the Great Chaitya (Valurak is thought to be an ancient name for Karla Caves): Success!!

By Usabhadata, the son of Dinaka and the son-in-law of the king, the Khaharata, the Kshatrapa Nahapana, who gave three hundred thousand cows, who made gifts of gold and a tirtha on the river Banasa, who gave to the Devas and Bramhanas sixteen villages, who at the pure tirtha Prabhasa gave eight wives to the Brahmanas, and who also fed annually a hundred thousand Brahmanas- there has been given the village of Karajika for the support of the ascetics living in the caves at Valuraka without any distinction of sect or origin, for all who would keep the varsha.On the lintel to the left of the main entrance to the Great Chaitya, facing the inscription of Nahapana and posterior to it by a generation, there is also an inscription by Satavahana ruler Sri Pulumayi, that is, Vasishthiputra Pulumavi (130-159 CE):[43] In the seventh year of the king Sri Pulamavi, son of Vasithi, in the fifth fortnight of summer, on the first day, on the above, by the Maharathi Somadeva son of Vasithi, the son of the Maharathi Mitradeva son of Kosiki, of the Okhalakiyas, there was given to the community of Valuraka, of the Valuraka caves, a village with its taxes ordinary and extraordinary, with its income fixed or proportional.The pillars of the Chaitya at Karla are most similar to the pillars of Vihara No.10, at Nasik Caves, also built by Ushavadata, the son-in-law of Nahapana ("Ushavadata, son of Dinika, son-in- law of king Nahapana, the Kshaharata Kshatrapa, (...) has caused this cave to be made and these cisterns.").

[44][45] The proportions and general layout are similar, as are the various architectural elements, including the shape of the bells, the framed toruses, the bases, the capitals and they supporting animals and human figures.

On the second day of the third fortnight of winter in the twenty fourth year of King Sri Pulumavi, son of Vasithi, this pious gift of the lay worshiper Harapharana, son of Setapharana, a Sovasaka, living in Abulama, a nine-celled hall, has been given to the universal Sangha, as special property of the Mahasamghikas, in honor of his parents and securing the welfare and happiness of all beings.

This is especially the case of the Great Chaitya at Kanheri, in the northern suburb in Mumbai, probably built during the reign of Yajna Sri Satakarni (circa 150 CE).