The death toll from a stampede near a temple in central India has risen to 109 after many of the injured succumbed to injuries, officials say.

Thousands of Hindu pilgrims were crossing a bridge over the Sindh river leading to a temple in Madhya Pradesh state on Sunday when they panicked at rumours the bridge would collapse, triggering a stampede.

Autopsies had been carried out on 109 bodies by late Sunday, the district medical officer, RS Gupta, said on Monday.

Hundreds of thousands of devotees had thronged the remote Ratangarh village temple to honour the Hindu mother goddess Durga on the last day of the popular 10-day Navaratra festival.

Women and children were among the dead, DK Arya, deputy inspector general of police in the Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh state, told the Press Trust of India.

More than 100 people were recovering in hospital.

Police wielding sticks had charged the crowd in an effort to contain the panic, Arya said. People retaliated by hurling stones at officers and one officer was badly injured.

It was not immediately clear how many people were on the bridge when the stampede started. Local media said about 500,000 people had gone to the temple on Sunday. The state has ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Sonia Gandhi, the leader of India's ruling Congress party, expressed "shock and deep anguish over the tragic incident", according to a party statement.