How tough was Kichaka?

The below quotes are from the kmg translation (version or edition) of Mahabharat's Virata Parva and the reason for certain letters being highlighted in bold is to highlight and bring attention to the achievements of Keechak (the only mard of Matsya desh) a character from Mahabharat. I will attempt to answer how tough he is. But a lesser known fact about him is that Keechak was a suta and a son of another suta.

I have 2 nicknames for him; "the battle hardened general of Matsya" "hero of the suta race" (mainly because Keechak was actually a suta unlike karna.) Their will be 3 links in this post.

This entire post is basically about Keechak, here is the 1st quote (this is from the last battle Keechak fought in his life which versus Bheem):

Bhima seized Kichaka by the hairs of his head, which were adorned with garlands. And thus seized with force by the hair, that foremost of mighty persons, Kichaka, quickly freed his hair and grasped the arms of Bhima. And then between those lions among men, fired with wrath, between that chief of the Kichaka clan, and that best of men, there ensued a hand-to-hand encounter, like that between two powerful elephants for a female elephant in the season of spring, or like that which happened in days of yore between those lions among monkeys, the brothers Vali and Sugriva. And both equally infuriate and both eager for victory, both those combatants raised their arms resembling snakes furnished with five hoods, and attacked each other with their nails and teeth, wrought up to frenzy of wrath.

Impetuously assailed by the powerful Kichaka in that encounter, the resolute Bhima did not waver a single step. And locked in each other's embraces and dragging each other, they fought on like two mighty bulls. And having nails and teeth for their weapons, the encounter between them was fierce and terrible like that of two furious tigers. And felling each other in fury, they encountered each other like a couple of elephants with rent temples. And the mighty Bhima then seized Kichaka, and Kichaka, that foremost of strong persons threw Bhima down with violence. And as those mighty combatants fought on, the crash of their arms produced a loud noise that resembled the clatter of splitting bamboos.

Then Vrikodara throwing Kichaka down by main force within the room, began to toss him about furiously even as a hurricane tosseth a tree. And attacked thus in battle by the powerful Bhima, Kichaka grew weak and began to tremble. For all that, however, he tugged at the Pandava to the best of his power. And attacking Bhima, and making him wave a little, the mighty Kichaka struck him with his knees and brought him down to the ground. And overthrown by the powerful Kichaka, Bhima quickly rose up like Yama himself with mace in hand. And thus that powerful Suta and the Pandava, intoxicated with strength and challenging each other, grappled with each other at midnight in that solitary place.

And as they roared at each other in wrath, that excellent and strong edifice began to shake every moment. And slapped on the chest by the mighty Bhima, Kichaka fired with wrath moved not a single pace. And bearing for a moment only that onslaught incapable of being born on earth, the Suta, overpowered by Bhima's might, became enfeebled. And seeing him waning weak, Bhima endued with great strength forcibly drew Kichaka towards his breast, and began to press hard. And breathing hard again and again in wrath, that best of victors, Vrikodara, forcibly seized Kichaka by the hair. And having seized Kichaka, the mighty 'Bhima began to roar like a hungry tiger that hath killed a large animal.

And finding him exceedingly exhausted, Vrikodara bound him fast with his arms, as one binds a beast with a cord. And then Bhima began for a long while, to whirl the senseless Kichaka, who began to roar frightfully like a broken trumpet. And in order to pacify Krishna's wrath Vrikodara grasped Kichaka's throat with his arms and began to squeeze it. And assailing with his knees the waist of that worst of the Kichakas, all the limbs of whose body had been broken into fragments and whose eye-lids were closed, Vrikodara slew him, as one would slay a beast. And beholding Kichaka entirely motionless, the son of Pandu began to roll him about on the ground.

[end of the fight bhima won keechak lost]

And that foremost of mighty persons, squeezing his own hands, and biting his lips in rage, again attacked his adversary and thrust his arms and legs and neck and head into his body like the wielder of the Pinaka reducing into shapeless mass the deer, which form sacrifice had assumed in order to escape his ire. And having crushed all his limbs, and reduced him into a ball of flesh, the mighty Bhimasena showed him unto Krishna. And endued with mighty energy that hero then addressed Draupadi, that foremost of all women, saying, 'Come princess of Panchala, and see what hath become of that lustful wretch!'

Source; https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m04/m04022.htm

Analysis; most of Keechak's achievements were highlighted in bold. Keechak's 5 achievements; he freed his hair, he also threw bheem down and dragged him, and Keechak wavered Bheem too, the last great achievement was him throwing bheem down a second time but with the usage of his knees as a weapon.

Other combat feats of Kichak:

King Matsya's commander, Kichaka of wicked soul, by whom the Trigartas, O monarch, were repeatedly vanquished and slain with mighty force, now lieth low on the ground with all his brothers, slain, O monarch, by invisible Gandharvas during the hours of darkness, O thou of unfading glory.

The wicked Kichaka, however, had been an oppressor of men and a dishonourer of other people's wives. And it was for this that wicked of sinful soul had been slain by the Gandharvas. And it was thus, O king, that people began to speak, from province to province of the invincible Kichaka, that slayer of hostile ranks.

Link - https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m04/m04025.htm

Keechak may have had 2 armies from different states as his allies;

"Many a time and oft by Matsya's Suta Kichaka aided by the Matsyas and the Salyas, the mighty king of the Trigartas, Susarman, who owned innumerable cars, regarding the opportunity to be a favourable one, then spoke the following words without losing a moment. And, O monarch, forcibly vanquished along with his relatives by the mighty Kichaka, king Susarman, eyeing Karna in askance, spoke these words unto Duryodhana, 'My kingdom hath many a time been forcibly invaded by the king of the Matsyas. The mighty Kichaka was that king's generalissimo. Crooked and wrathful and of wicked soul, of prowess famed over all the world, sinful in deeds and highly cruel, that wretch, however, hath been slain by the Gandharvas, Kichaka being dead, king Virata, shorn of pride and his refuge gone, will, I imagine, lose all courage I think."

Link - https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m04/m04030.htm

All in all i dont think any of the kaurav brothers could have done what Keechak did, all Suyodhana ever did was strike Bheem three times with his mace, but Keechak got Bheem at least four times even though Keechak was not prepared for the fight ahead of time.

It is true Bheem, Jarasandh were superior warriors and wrestlers when you compare them to Keechak but we should not deny the fact that Keechak comes as a close fourth or fifth to those 2 mards and shers.

A mace fight between Kichaka and Shalya would be very interesting to see, as both warriors were inferior to Bheem.

We never saw Keechak fight with a mace, based on performance we only have his fight with Bheem to analyze him and make an opinion. While Shalya in a peak physical condition on day 11 fought well against Bheem with maces, he also had a 2nd mace duel with Bheem after being injured by shaft's of arrows.

With his body already wounded previously king Shalya still managed to knock Bheem out. Duryodhan's best achievements were only in archery while being on a chariot so i would have to put Keechak above Duryodhan when it comes to only physical stength, hand to hand combat etc. If it was about arrows then Duryodhan could beat Keechak.

Strongest people that are not Arjuna/Krishna; 

While Shalya knocked Bheem out twice though Bheem also knocked Shalya out the same number it happened in a mace fight where strength is a factor.

Jarasandh could toss objects over 100 yojanas away, Keechak in a unprepared state could give Bheem a decent fight and hurt him a couple of times.

Though Keechak is considered a slayer of armies at the same time it is likely he used his arrows and long range weapons to kill them more often than not, as using fists would not be applicable in a era where importance was largely given to archers. 

I know that retellings and fake stories like Madhvacharya's edition claim that Bhishma and Kripacharya attacked Virat's nation & were defeated because of Kichaka but the problem is that this is fan fiction not a part of Mahabharat. As much as i would like to say that Kichaka is a better warrior than Parshuram the fact is that's simply not true. Kichaka was more of an archer and weapon-based fighter than a wrestler.

Conclusion; Kichaka's best ability was his unarmed combat skills but the fact is that his most used ability would be his archery skills on a chariot or horseback. Though he did archery mostly it was not his best skill. If he ever could defeat Bhishma or Duryodhan in a fight it would only be in the unarmed department of combat.
Bonus; When u consider the fact that Susharma and his cohorts were unafraid of Arjun, even after losing to him on days 8,9,10, 12 of the war continously. Even after abhimanyu's death and knowing Arjun's power, how dangerous & angry he was these people did not fear him, they kept challenging the ultimate warrior (Arjuna) to a battle yet these same people feared Keechak and after being beaten just a few times by him these people decided not to invade until Keechak is slain by a 3rd party it makes you wonder how good was Keechak as a archer? How was he in that mode compared to Arjun, Drona, Parshuram, Laxman etc?

My next posts will be about Drona & Jayadrath.