The death toll was scaled down on Wednesday from 168 because some victims were counted twice in the initial confusion as bodies flooded into several hospitals, senior police official Rajeev Dosat said.

However, the toll from Tuesday's stampede was likely to rise again because some people took home the bodies of relatives without informing police, Dosat said.

The disaster occurred just as the doors of the temple were being opened for worship at dawn for more than 12,000 people celebrating a key Hindu festival in the historic city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan state.

A group of 200 pilgrims jostled with the crowd and tried to move ahead of others, causing some people to slip down the narrow 1.35-mile (2-kilometre) path leading to the temple, said Mahendra Singh Nagar, who heads a private trust that oversees the temple's operations.

False rumors of a bomb that spread during the stampede only added to the chaos, worshippers said.

Tensions are high because India has been hit by a spate of recent bomb attacks. The latest explosions killed six people and wounded 45 others Monday night in the western cities of Malegaon and Modasa.

Temple floors were also slick with coconut milk as thousands of devotees broke coconuts as religious offerings, causing pilgrims to slip and fall as they scrambled to escape, Nagar said.

Television footage showed dozens of bodies on a sidewalk. Nearby frantic people tried to revive unconscious devotees through resuscitation efforts or by slapping their faces.

Jodhpur is some 180 miles (290 kilometres) southwest of Rajasthan's capital, Jaipur.-- AP