[2] Mahan Kosh has 64,263 entries arranged in the alphabetical order of the Gurmukhi script covering religious and historical terms in the Sikh canon.

[3][4][5][6][7] Each entry records the etymology and different meanings of a term "according to its usage at different places in different works" alongside textual quotations.

His original patron, Maharaja Brijindar Singh of Faridkot State, who had earlier sponsored scholarly work on the Guru Granth Sahib died in 1918.

Kahn Singh finished the work on February 6, 1926 and printing began on October 26, 1927 at the Sudarshan Press in Amritsar, owned by the poet Dhani Ram Chatrik.

The Languages Department of Punjab, Patiala then published Mahan Kosh in one volume and it has gone through three editions, the latest released in 1981.