Bhubaneswar, July 30 - At least 18 priests of a temple in Orissa were arrested after they clashed among themselves over Rs.3,500 given by a group of devotees for performing some rituals, police said Thursday.

A group of priests at the 11th century Lingaraj temple in the state capital collected the money from some pilgrims from Rajasthan Wednesday evening to perform the rituals, but trouble started when another group of priests laid claim to the same money, police said.

The priests, locally known as sevayats or servitors, had a heated argument over the money which turned violent when they started pelting stones at each other. At least three people were hurt in the clash, police said.

'We have arrested 18 priests from both sides and deployed police around the temple to prevent any further clash,' Aseem Kumar Panda, inspector in charge of the local police station, told IANS.

The temple's rituals were not affected, he said.

The temple has some 200 priests.