Mavala (plural mavale in Marathi) was a name used for people of the hilly Maval region[1] west of the present day Indian city of Pune. It was in the Maval that the 17th century Maratha leader, Shivaji, first established his power base that later developed into the Maratha kingdom. The inhabitants of this hilly region who were heavily enlisted in his guerrilla forces and raiding bands were known as Mavale, composed of the Kunbi castes.[2][3] The Mavala soldiers were expert footmen and excelled in mountain warfare. The infantry was considered the backbone of Shivaji's power, and according to Sabhasad Bakhar, which chronicled Shivaji's life, the Mavale Hasham infantry of Shivaji was composed of 100,000 men.[4][5][6]
Some of the inhabitants of the region in north were Kolis while the south was mainly inhabited by Marathas.[7][8][9]
The region was also known as Bavan Maval (52 valleys or Khoras). Each Khora was under the rule of Maratha[10]NayaksorDeshmukhs.
Each Maval lord commanded armed forces enlisted majorly from among his own tenants for the purpose of territorial defense and law enforcement. Additionally, they were appealed by their suzerain to raise troops for royal service in times of need, and would duly receive additional bounties and grants of new territories in reward.[12][13]
^Raeside, Ian. “A Note on the ‘Twelve Mavals’ of Poona District.” Modern Asian Studies, vol. 12, no. 3, 1978, pp. 393–417. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/312227. Accessed 2 Aug. 2023.
^A.R.Kulkarni (2005). J.S.Grewal; D.P.Chattopadhyaya (eds.). The State and Society in Medieval India, Volume Vii Part I. Oxford University Press. p. 226. Shivaji made use of both sections of the Marathas in establishment of his swaraj...He drew his military strength mainly from the mawales, the kunbis of the Mawal region. In the north, particularly in the eighteenth century, the term 'Maratha' was used with reference to all the people of Maharashtra, irrespective of their caste distinctions.
^Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1969). The Mughul Empire, 1526-1803 A.D.New Delhi, India, Asia: S. L. Agarwala. pp. 368: The people who inhabited the Maval country were Kolis, they were very hardy and industrious and formed a good army.
^Burman, J. J. R. (1996). A comparison of sacred groves among the Mahadeo Kolis and Kunbis of Maharashtra. Indian Anthropologist, 26(1), 37–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41919791
