At least 45 people were killed and 70 others injured Tuesday in a stampede at a Hindu temple in the Indian state of Rajasthan, police said.

More than 10,000 people had gathered at the Chamunda temple in Jodhpur's centuries-old hilltop Mehrangarh Fort at the start of a major Hindu festival when the incident occurred at 6:15 am (0045 GMT).

"We have a toll of 45 dead from different hospitals. Another 70 people have been injured," Jodhpur police superintendent Malini Aggarwal told AFP.

She said the stampede was caused by the collapse of a wall leading up to the temple, which is a popular tourist attraction. Several deaths in the collapse then sparked a larger stampede.

Television footage showed devotees carrying limp bodies to police vehicles, with others trying to ressuscitate relatives and loved ones.

Temple crushes are common during religious festivities in India, where crowd control management is often rudimentary or non-existent.

In August, around 150 Hindu worshippers died in a similar stampede in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

In one of India's deadliest stampedes, 257 people were killed during a Hindu pilgrimage in western Maharashtra state in January 2005.