New Delhi - At least 40 worshippers were killed and 150 injured after a stampede at a Hindu temple in India's north-western state of Rajasthan on Tuesday, media reports said.

The stampede occurred at the Chamunda temple situated atop a hillock in the Mehrangarh area near Jodhpur city, 350 kilometres west of the state capital Jaipur, the NDTV network reported.

About 30 of the 40 casualties were brought to two state-run hospitals in the Jodhpur city, senior administrative official Kiran Soni Gupta told the PTI news agency. The injured were being treated at the hospitals and the condition of a dozen was described as "serious."

A huge crowd of 15,000 devotees had gathered on the occasion of the nine-day Navratri festival which began Tuesday and the stampede occurred as people tried to rush in to beat the crowd, the NDTV reported.

The road approaching the temple was narrow and there were not enough police and security posted at the 15th-century temple, witnesses said.

Some local media reported that there were also some rumours that explosives had been planted near the temple which set off the panic.

Temple stampedes are not uncommon in India where huge crowds gather to pray on auspicious days at complexes where the approach roads and entrances are usually narrow.

In August, a stampede near a mountaintop Hindu temple in northern India killed 145 people. In January 2005, more than 260 Hindu pilgrims, including several children, were killed in a stampede in a temple in India's Maharashtra state. (dpa)