Police have arrested two Christians in an eastern Indian state in connection with the murder of a Hindu leader that sparked weeks of deadly clashes, a killing which is also blamed on Maoist rebels.

The arrests were the first in the killing of Laxmanananda Saraswati in August, a Hindu proselytiser linked with India's main Hindu-nationalist opposition party.

The murder unleashed a wave of retaliatory attacks by Hindus on Christians in the rural Kandhamal district of Orissa state, leaving at least 35 people dead, that has been a zone of Christian missionary activities for decades.

The violence against Christians in Orissa was followed by similar attacks in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka in the south.

Hindu nationalists either share power or rule outright in all the three states.

Despite posting thousands of policemen, violence has continued,especially in Kandhamal where thousands of Christians now live in government camps because their homes are destroyed or they are too fearful to return.

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