Mawala is an exclusive term referring to the Maratha Armies in King Shivaji's reign. The word "Mawala" is supposed to have arisen because King Shivaji's Jagir was from the Mawal region in the Deccan plateau. Therefore, nowadays West Maharashtra also is called Mawal Prant.
Mawala Soldiers consist of people from castes like 96 Maratha clans including Deshmukh, Patil etc.
These hard working soldier group led to the foundation of Hindu Swarajya for the people. Among them Maratha's from 96 clans who firstly served Sultanets later joined the Maratha Kingdom under Shivaji and his successor.
References
Mawala Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA