Khagarbha Bodhisattva is represented in standing posture with his hands in vitarka and varada mudra. Khagarbha Bodhisattva symbol is the sun upon a book. A graceful drapery falls from his waist and a long narrow scarf is tied around the body from the left shoulder to the right hip. Khagarbha Bodhisattva hair is drawn up in a stupa shaped ushnisha.

According to the Akashgarbha sutra, Lord Buddha has praised him highly thus ‘His dhyana is as deep as the sea, his pure precept is as high as mountain, his wisdom is worthy of receiving the best offerings from all living beings. His merit and virtue are unsurpassed’. It is said that he is twenty yojana in height manifesting a great body. He wears a crown which manifests 35 images of Buddhas of confession. His power of compassion is just like Avalokiteshvara. He benefits living beings continuously. It is said that when a beginner bodhisattva commits a crime and confesses just once before Akashgarbha Bodhisattva their evils will be eliminated and they will be purified immediately.

According to the Swayambhu legend, when Odiayana Acarya was meditating in a mountain near Swayambhu hill he desired to have a vision of Akashgarbha Bodhisattva and hence he blew a conch shell. In the meantime Akashgarbha Bodhisattva with a view to bless Odiayana Acarya appeared in front of him and gave many blessings to him. He manifesteda stream of brilliant light and entered into a boulder and vanished. Akashgarbha Bodhisattva predicted then that he would be the famous Acarya Bandhudatta who would bring Arya Avalokiteshvara from Assam and conduct a chariot festival in the Kathmandu valley and gain liberation thereby at the feet of Arya Avalokiteshvara. So the place where Akashgarbba Bodhisattva issued forth a stream of light is called Adi-shvara near Swayambhu hill.