Linguist and translator Probal Dashgupta translated the book from Maja Tisljar's Esperanto translation.
An advisor at the Indian Embassy in Croatia, Venkatachalam Mahalingam, voiced hope the book would be translated into some more of India's 22 official languages.
He said the translation into Bengali, which was financed by the Croatian Culture Ministry, was an example of cultural cooperation between Croatia and India.
This is the first Croatian literary work translated into Bengali, while there already exists a Croatian translation of the works of Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore.
The Esperanto translation of "Hlapic" received the best children's book in Esperanto award in Berlin in 1999.