RR Collector Series: Paul Abraham On The Art Of Collecting Coins And The Story Behind Sarmaya

Paul Abraham's collecting life began long before Sarmaya did, with a Vaseline bottle of Travancore coins his father gave him at the age of 12. A banker with over 35 years of experience, including a stint as COO of IndusInd Bank, where he continues to serve as an advisor, Abraham founded Sarmaya in 2015, turning a private collection built over four decades into a digital and physical museum rooted in the history and living traditions of the Indian subcontinent. What began with Mughal coins has since grown into an eight-genre collection spanning maps, prints, photography, rare books, community art, and contemporary art, run today alongside his wife, designer Pavitra Rajaram, out of a gallery in Mumbai's Fort district.

Here, during an exclusive conversation with Robb Report India for our digital IP "RR Collector Series," Abraham talks about the object he still has, the one he commissioned himself, and the ones he is still chasing.

Robb Report India (RR): Take us back to when you were 12. Do you still have that original Vaseline bottle of Travancore coins your father gave you?

Paul Abraham (PA): Yes, I still keep the coins in the same glass Vaseline bottle, they don't make them anymore. It's something I treasure and hope to keep forever. As a curious kid growing up in the historic precincts of Hauz Khas, I was always fascinated by history. These coins were another way to connect with and be transported to another era.

RR: Somewhere along the way, coins alone stopped being enough. Was there one object that first pulled you toward maps, photographs or art?

PA: When I started collecting coins in Delhi, I chose the Mughals as my focus because their coins were so readily available in North India. That led me deep into Mughal history. To understand their coins and mints, many of which had changed names over the centuries, I started collecting old maps. The maps led me to old prints and engravings, and finally to 19th-century photography, because I came across a rare cache of photographs documenting the 1857 Revolt, after which the Mughal dynasty effectively collapsed. Along the way, I became interested in each of these genres for its own sake. I collected books related to every part of the collection, and that grew into a massive library. At the same time, I was drawn to community art forms and contemporary art. Today, the collection spans eight genres.

RR: You run Sarmaya with your wife, Pavitra Rajaram. How do the two of you divide the instincts of collector and curator between you?

PA: Pavitra and I bring different lenses to collecting and curation. My journey has been shaped by history and by the communities I like to spend time with, understanding how they live and work. Pavitra works closely with art, artisans, craft and design. We combine the two. Sometimes we disagree, but more often we complement each other, because both perspectives are essential to understanding and enjoying this journey.

RR: You commissioned the Issa-nama, a Mughal-style miniature painting series retelling the life of Christ. What drew you to that project specifically, so far outside your own coin collection?

PA: I belong to the Knanaya community, which migrated from present-day southern Turkey to the Kerala coast and settled there nearly 1,700 years ago. It's a story of Eastern Christianity merging into the social fabric of Kerala and India, one that I felt needed to be told. I found myself wondering what Christian iconography might have looked like if it had developed in an Eastern visual language rather than a European one. That question led to the Issa-nama project. I worked with a traditional miniature artist from Bhilwara, who relied solely on my narration to paint stories from the life of Jesus Christ in the Persian style of the Hamzanama, a 16th-century folio commissioned by Mughal emperor Akbar. It was a wonderful, fulfilling journey back to my own identity.

RR: After everything you've gathered over the decades, is there still one object out there you're actively chasing?

PA: Honestly, it isn't one object, there are many. I'm chasing rare book compilations and some rare coins. With art, it's less chasing than wanting to understand. I'm trying to learn about, and meaningfully support, some performing arts. As a collector, you know that the deeper you go into a subject, the more gaps you will discover in your own understanding. That's what keeps things interesting.